Take care
by HPfan15
Summary: "Take care" He whispered, then he was gone, forever. Draco Malfoy is 18 years old and living in central London. He's the same. Well, until he meets someone who will destroy his way of seeing life, forever.
1. Chapter 1

From the castle, you can hear cheering. Everyone is celebrating.

Why wouldn't they? The Dark Lord is gone.

They can be happy again.

The Boy Who Lived lived once again.

But outside of the castle, a girl sat.

Her hair swings as she sobs.

She sits all alone on the stairs to the Main Entrance at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, well at least what's left of it.

Most of the school is broken.

The girl is all alone.

No-one's shoulder to cry on.

The one person's shoulder she wants to cry against isn't with her anymore.

She wants to celebrate with everyone else.

But there isn't a single spark of happiness to be found in her.

Her heart is broken.

And so is she.

She picks up a stone and throws it away.

And then she throws one more, and then another one and another and another.

She buries her face in her arms.

Her whole body shakes as she cries.

She sits there for hours and hours. No-one comes to comfort her. They are too busy celebrating to notice, a little crying girl.

A man's outline becomes visible behind her. He sits down next to her. He lays his arm around her and she rests her head against his shoulder.

So they sit, for almost an hour, before the man starts to talk.

"I love you," he says.

The girl looks up at the man sitting next to her.

"I love you, too" She whispers.

"He loved you too," the man says quietly.

The girl looks up at the man again.

"I knew for a long time" The man whispers, "He was in love with you"

The girl starts to sob again.

"Hermione," The man says and takes her face in his hands.

Hermione looks up into the eyes of the guy she trusts with her life, one of her best friends. And the best friend of the guy who's gone.

"It hurts, Harry" She whispers and buries her face in his neck, scootching onto his lap "It physically hurts" She lays her arms around his neck.

"I know" Harry whispers and puts his arms around her, "It does"

"Make it go away" Hermione sobs, "Now"

Harry just buries his head in her hair.

"I want him back" he heard Hermione's weak voice, "I want to hug him," she says with a cracking voice, "One last time"

Harry hugs her harder and lets out a low sob.

The War Heroin and The Boy Who Lived sits on the stairs for hours, crying.

You can think that The Boy Who Lived would be happy, he lived once again, he defeated the Dark Lord. But he survived.

He made it out.

Maybe he had been a fool thinking that all his friends would make it out.

But being foolish like that is hope.

Hope is the light in the dark.

But it can also be the darkness in the light.

You can't turn back the clock.

"He was too late" Hermione whispers into his shirt.

"What?" Harry says.

"Neville" Hermione takes a deep breath, "He came too late. The snake was chasing us. And he was too late" She lets out a loud sob, "The snake- It- it - ... And-" She bursts out crying again. "He tried to save me from it," She says after a few minutes, "He jumped in front of me. He- he sacrificed himself"

Harry couldn't bear hearing this. This was almost more painful than seeing his parents getting murdered. It felt like a thousand knives were being thrown into his heart and lungs.

He felt so alone.

He had everyone to talk to.

He had the students of Hogwarts.

He had the Teachers.

He had people from the Order.

He had the rest of The Weasleys

He had Hermione

But he didn't have Ron.


	2. Chapter 2

_One year later_

Draco walks down a street in central London. Couples and groups of friends are passing by.

But Draco is walking alone, and he doesn't mind.

He enjoys being alone with his thoughts. It gives him time to think. He doesn't really like hanging out with friends.

He's so committed to his thoughts that he doesn't notice the girl he bumped into. But she wiggles and falls.

"Oh My God!" He sighs and reaches down to help her up, "I am so sorry"

The girl gets up with his help, but she's clearly drunk.

She brushes her hair out of her face.

He can't believe his eyes; It's the bookworm, the mudblood, It's ...

"Granger?" He asks.

"Yeah...?" She sighs.

"Are you okay?" He didn't think he would ever see the day Hermione Granger, aka The Bookworm and Mudblood, got drunk alone.

"Yeah," She says and nearly falls, "I am. Fine" She says and points at Draco.

"Uhm..." He crosses his arms, "No you're not"

"Yes. I. Am"

"Are you waiting for someone?" If she is he doesn't have to help her, but she's vulnerable, alone and drunk in central London at night.

"No," She says slurredly, "I can take care of myself"

He wanted to leave her here. He wanted to believe that she could take care of herself, but she can barely stand up straight.

"Okay, listen up Granger," He says and takes a grip of her arm, "I'm going to have to take you home"

"No," She says and tries to get out of his grip.

"So where do you live?"

"Merton," She says and sighs.

"Merton?" He raises an eyebrow.

"Yeah" She crosses her arms.

"Okay" He sighs, "Hold tight" He pulls her into a small road and then pulls her close to him.

A small pop lets the world know that they are no longer there.

He can feel Granger's grip on his shirt as she holds on to not fall off. He keeps his grip on her arm and holds his wand in his other.

They fall down in front of a small house with maybe 15 apartments in it.

"Here it is" She sighs.

He decides to help her into the apartment. When they get in he makes her a 'Less-Drunk-Drink'.

"Thanks" She sighs. She doesn't look at him. She stares at the floor. "Oh, Merlin! I think I'm going to be sick"

"I..." He starts, he needs an excuse to leave. He doesn't want to hear her throw up.

"False alarm," She says and comes out of the bathroom, "Do you want something to drink?"

"Um..." He has to think, does he want something to drink? "Yeah, water would be great"

She gets him a glass of water and goes into the bedroom.

"Okay..." Draco sighs and sits down in an armchair. The wall next to him is covered with bookshelves. He tries to read the covers. There are some books that he recognizes, like 'Hogwarts: A History', or 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to find them'.

"Impressed, Draco?" Granger says, standing in the doorway, and to his big surprise wearing pajamas.

"Um..." He mumbles. Come on, Draco! Talk. Talk! Now. Say anything. Okay. You are officially looking like a fool.

"Have you lost the ability to talk?"

"N-no," He says as firmly as he can, "No I haven't"

The girl sits down in the armchair next to him.

They talk for a while, but in the middle of a conversation about 'Advanced Potion-Making, she falls asleep.

"Um..." He says, feeling uncomfortable, "Granger?"

She doesn't move.

"Amazing, Granger" He mutters, "Have you fallen asleep?"

It's bad enough that he is in a mudblood's apartment, but he's here and she's asleep. Asleep!

"Come on, Granger," He says and shakes her loosely, "Wake up"

She groans slightly and lifts her head.

"What?" She mumbles.

Draco pulls slightly in her hoodie.

She slowly gets up and he guides her to her bedroom.

She falls down on her bed, asleep even faster than she woke up.

He carefully puts a blanket over her and looks at her face for a moment.

She's actually kind of cute, he thinks. Merlin Draco! What are you thinking?! She is a mudblood. A muggle-born. Not like you, a pureblood. Not as good as you.

But he can't quite help himself from thinking about her innocent, calm face. And he's just about to leave when he hears a horrifying scream. A scream like no other. Like a scream from someone between death and life. Like one of the many screams echoing in the Malfoy Manor.

He turns around and sees Granger screaming and crying in her bed.

He freezes. What should I do? he thinks. I could just leave. It's not my business. But some part of him tells him that it is his business.

"Granger?" he said, as he sits down on the bed.

"Granger!" he shakes her. Her eyes snap open and she sits up, still sobbing.

Draco does a fake cough and slowly says,

"Are you okay?"

She shakes her head.

"Uhm... Do you want to talk about it?"

"I don't know, Draco"

"Since when do you call me 'Draco'?"

"Since last year in your Manor"

"Malfoy Manor?"

Hermione nods and tries to wipe away her tears.

"Have you ever been there?"

"Yes," She says firmly, "With Harry, and Ron, you, your father and-and Bellatrix. There were some other people there too..."

"Are you sure this wasn't just a dream of yours?"

Granger stares at him for a moment before pulling her left sleeve up.

At the sight of the angry letters, every memory from that night comes flashing back. The horrifying screams echoing, Harrys yelling from the dungeons, his aunts shouting and crazy laughter, the tears in Hermione's eyes when his aunt finally stopped, her short breaths as Bellatrix was holding the knife against her neck, his anger over not being able to say 'Stop' to anyone, anyone at all, to save anyone, at all.

He reaches out and touches her arm, with the letters still shining red against her pale skin. Her tears dripped down on his arm.

"I am so sorry" He whispers.

The silence is heavy. Way too heavy for him.

"You know it's one year ago, today" She whispers.

"Since what?"

"Since the battle of Hogwarts," She whispers, tears still running down her face, "Since we lost _Him_ "

"'Him' As in the Dark Lord?"

Hermione shakes her head.

"Since we lost _Ron_ ," She says.


	3. Chapter 3

The next week was pretty normal to Draco; he went to his office at the ministry and then home again.

And Draco was just about to leave on Friday night when he heard a knock on his door.

"Come in," He said and tried to organize the last of his papers

The door squeaked discretely as it opened.

"Hi," Hermione said.

A small gasp escaped Draco's lungs before he could stop it.

"Come in," He said and gestured at the chair on the other side of the desk, "How can I help you?"

Hermione carefully sat down at the edge of the chair and cleared her throat.

Draco tried to find a spot to put back some books in the shelf, not so much for needing to do it, more to avoid the awkward tension in the room.

"Well..." Hermione started, "I wanted to thank you for the other night. It was my bad, I shouldn't have gotten drunk in the first place. It was very clumsy of me"

At this Draco actually looked at her, and could see that she was mad at herself for letting this happen.

"Nothing happened," He said slowly, "Just be careful next time. Don't get drunk alone"

Hermione nodded and slowly got up. She was about to leave.

"Hey. I was going to get something to eat. Want to join me?" A voice sounded.

It wasn't until Hermione turned around and looked confused at him that he realized that he was the one who said it.

 _Please say no. Please say no. This is awkward as it is._

"Sure..." Hermione shrugged.

"Great" Draco sighed and took his jacket, "Let's go"

-Page Break-

Hermione had to jog to keep even steps with him.

He didn't know if he was doing it to get rid of her or just because he wasn't used to walking with other people.

And the conversations were basically non-existent.

After walking for 20 minutes Draco found a bar he liked and got them a table.

"Do you want some food?" Hermione asked.

"Humph?" Draco thought about it and decided on "Nah..."He said and looked down into the paper again.

"Something to drink, then?" She asked.

"Beer" He continued to read the news on the 3rd page.

"Okay. I'll be right back..." The girl sighed and disappeared into the crowd.

-Page Break-

Draco tried to rub the morning sleepiness out of his eyes, not sure what the time was.

The light from the window told him two things, a: it was about 10 o'clock in the morning, b: He was hung over.

He rolled over, away from the window, but he was near to fall out of bed when he discovered the girl laying next to him, with her back facing his way.

 _Shit. Shit shit shit. Who is this?!_

It was not the first time he had woken up with a girl in his bed, but he did not have a single memory from last night, well he could remember going to a bar with...

 _No. No. No no. NO. It couldn't be. She was smarter than that, right? Oh shit... DON'T MOVE DRACO. Great. Now she's awake._

The girl was obviously awake now, and to his big dismay, she started to roll over.

"Shit" She whispered.

Draco was too stunned to move.

"Shit, shit, shit" She whispered.

She started moving towards the other side of the bed, which was hard, considering the fact that the bed was about 3 and a half foot wide.

"Are you wearing any clothes?" She said, careful not to look at him.

Draco peeked under the cover.

"No" He sighed, "You?"

"No" She shook her head.

"I should get going," Hermione said.

"Yeah," Draco said and looked at her.

"I'm getting dressed now" She announced.

"Okay...?"

"Don't look"

"Oh right..."

Draco quickly looked away, but he couldn't help himself from peeking a little. And he couldn't look away, not when he saw her wrapping herself in a blanket and going to get her clothes, which were lying on the floor near the door.

Then she looked up and saw him looking.

"Draco," She said, "Look away"

 _He had poked the dragon_

He quickly looked away.

"Sorry" He mumbled.

A few moments of silence came after and ended when Hermione told him that he could look now.

She was wearing the same white blouse and black skirt as yesterday, and her hair was just as messy.

"You look... good?" He tried.

"Don't say that," She said and tried to find her missing sock, "We are never speaking of this again"

"Never" Draco agreed and pulled out the sock from under the bed.

Hermione put it on, said a simple goodbye and left.

 **Dear readers, Please review and tell me what you think of the story :)**

 **Thanks**

 **\- H  
**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys. Sorry for taking so long posting. I've had a lot with school and stuff. I really hope you enjoy the story, and please leave a review and tell me what you think, and maybe what you think could be better.**

 **Thanks**

 **\- H**

"How can you eat that?" Draco looked disgusted as he saw Blaise eat a kebab-pizza.

"It's really good" Blaise showed another piece into his mouth.

Draco took a bite out of his tuna sandwich, and Blaise mumbled something about disgusting sandwiches ("How can you eat tuna on a sandwich?!). Draco rolled his eyes and took another bite.

"Did you hear what happened on the 4th floor?" Blaise asked with a mischievous smile.

Draco shook his head and took yet another bite of his sandwich.

"I heard Hermione Granger got fired" Blaise chuckled.

"How come?"

"She slept with her boss" Blaise smiled like he just won the house cup, "I bet she was a good shag" Blaise chuckled and made some offensive hand gestures.

Draco rolled his eyes again.

 _But she really was a good shag._

 _Draco! You are not thinking about this. She was not a good shag._

"You get my point," Blaise said and made another gesture.

 _She was a good shag, end of discussion._

"Mm-hm" Draco mumbled.

Blaise kept telling Draco about his ideas of the event, at least ten different versions of it.

Slightly disgusted Draco stood up, said "Good Bye" and vent back to the Ministry.

"Harry, you can't seriously think that I look good in purple hair," a voice said.

"You do" A boy answered, "you look hot"

Draco turned around the corner and saw a man with black, messy hair, round glasses and a lightning bolt-shaped scar and a young woman with bright purple hair and a tight black dress, with her back facing him, talking.

"You do look hot," Draco said from the corner of his mouth.

"Excuse me?" The girl turned around.

Draco groaned.

"Did you call my girlfriend hot?" Harry stepped in front of the Weasley girl with bright purple hair.

"It was a joke" Draco rolled his eyes.

The girl, who was slightly offended, crossed her arms.

"Ginny, calm down" Harry turned to his girlfriend, "He would never say anything nice to anyone"

 _I'm sorry?_

"I mean it's Draco Malfoy"

 _Excuse me?_

"You have a good point" Ginny mumbled.

 _And I'm the rude one?_

"So I heard Hermione lost her job," Draco said.

"Yeah..." Harry said and scratched his neck.

"But she is getting a new one quite soon" Ginny quickly filled in.

"Okay," Harry said, "Gin we should get going"

"Yeah," The girl said, "It was... talking to you. Hope I don't see you around"

 _Wow, Weasley... Wow..._

 _Real mean actually._

Draco walked back to his office to continue the Macnair case.

\- Page Break -

"So, honey, how have you been?" Narcissa asked.

"Good," Draco said simply, what more was there to tell. Well, he had slept with a Muggle-born, but if he told them that, he would be disowned, jobless and live alone with a dead dog within three seconds. Oh! And he had started saying Muggle-borns.

 _Wow... Who am I?_

"Any luck in the love life?"

 _Why did I know that question was going to come up? And the answer would be pretty non-existent._

"Okay," Draco shrugged, "I'm not seeing anyone right now"

"Any good shags lately?"

Draco stared at his dad.

 _WHAT!? Was he serious?_

 _Wait. Had he heard the rumor? Wait what rumor? Is there a rumor?_

"I don't want my only son to be 18 and a virgin," Lucius said to his wife.

 _Run Draco, run while you still can._

"Why not?" Narcissa looked at Draco, "I for one hope that he is waiting for someone special"

"The boy will be a 30-year-old virgin," Lucius said, looking at Draco.

"It's a long time until he's 30" Narcissa crossed her arms.

 _Do they know I can hear them?_

"Don't worry, dad," Draco calmed Lucius.

Lucius seemed happy about the fact and looked back at his wife.

Narcissa, on the other hand, was busy studying the menu.

"What does a man have to do to get food at this place?" Lucius shouted.

Next thing they know a waiter stood by their table.

"What can I get you?"

"I would like the Levrouc 1979 and the... Steak" Lucius said.

"And for the Mrs?"

"The fish with shredded onion," She said, "And a glass of white wine"

"And for the Mr?"

"Um... Water..." Draco said, "And the chicken"

The waiter walked away.

"So, sweetie" Narcissa, "I just met this lovely woman who just moved to London, from France actually. She is just lovely, and smart, and incredibly beautiful. And I was thinking that you maybe would like to go out with her?"

"Sure, mom," Draco said, "Whatever" He mumbled under his breath.

 _I had no choice, had I?_


	5. Chapter 5

**I'm sorry for not uploading in a while, I've just been swamped at school and stuff. But I want you guys to know that I do my best.**

 **And this is not meant for anyone to get offended in any way, but I'm sorry if anyone does get offended.**

 **-H**

 **PS. And also, if you have anything you really want to happen in the story you can post it in the comments and I will see what I can do :)**

"So I jusz moved 'ere from France," She said, "And I aczually goz a job already" She leaned in closer to Draco, "As waeezress at cafe downtown"

"Oh really?" Draco took a sip of his coffee, "What's the place called?"

"Pezzy France" She stared at the windows, "I loves ze name, eez remind me of 'ome"

"Pezzy France?" Draco repeated.

"In Wezminster"

"Oh Petty France?"

"Yes, Pezzy France" She nodded, "I work az lizle cafe in Pezzy France"

"Okay..." Draco nodded, not understanding quite what she meant, "But Adeline, how come you moved to London?"

"My maman know person 'ere and want to geeve me operazuneety zo live big life" Adeline leaned in and touched Draco's hand and looked him in the eye, "I mees my maman deeply" She took a sip of coffee, "Where you zive?

"Kensington," Draco said, "I just moved from home and I found a little apartment there"

"Enoughz abouz you now," She said and waved disliking in the air, "I come from rich fameely"

Draco stared at the woman sitting across from him. She is maybe 17 or 18 years old, dressed in a tight, short black dress with a silver belt around her waist. She has big eyes and big lips with a shockingly red lipstick on. She is also wearing high black heels and a little silver handbag, maybe a little overdressed for a casual date at a little coffee shop near bankruptcy.

"And when my maman 'eard abouz iz she called the chef and goz 'er money back"

"I'm sorry but what's a chef?"

"'e works as boss of shop"

"They actually work I- nevermind..."

-Page Break-

"Well, iz was nice to finally meet you," Adeline said and kissed his cheek.

"Yeah you too" Draco said, not meaning a word of it.

Adeline slowly leaned in for a kiss but Draco was quicker, actually his brain was quicker, he didn't have a clue what was going on. One second he's standing, next he know he's sitting on the ground, looking for his keys.

-Page Break-

"Draco! Meeting in my office!" The boss called through the door.

Considering this had never happened before he was not quick to follow, and was last to enter the office. His boss, Hugo, was sitting behind his desk, and all the others; Cara and Josh were standing in a corner talking to Gina and Samuel, while Carl was standing a few feet away from them, drinking his beloved coffee.

Hugo clears his throat and stands up.

"You all must be wondering why I summoned you all today"

A few nods could be spotted in the minimal crowd and Hugo was just about to continue when a light knock on the door interrupted him.

"Come in" He called, and through the door, none other than Hermione Granger herself appeared.

"Welcome," Hugo said and turned to the crowd, "Let me introduce your newest coworker; Hermione Granger" Hugo tried to clap his hands but when no-one else joined he just awkwardly sat down in his chair again"

The crowd started whispering, and Draco was sure about what.

 _Wasn't she fired a few days ago?_

 _Why is she here?_

 _Is she sleeping with Hugo too?_

 _Why is she late?_

 _Hugo seems awfully happy to have her here_

 _Where's her office?_

"Okay, Ms. Granger, why don't you introduce yourself a little?"

Hermione cleared her throat and smiled a little nervously.

"Okay..." She mumbled, "I'm Hermione Granger, I'm obviously new here and I'm quite excited for this job"

Everyone nodded and Hugo told everyone to tell her their names, which resulted in a minor chaos of names and handshakes, and then everyone went back to their offices, well apart from Draco, who was held at the office to show Hermione to hers.

"So..." Draco mumbled.

"How- How long have you worked here?" Hermione said to the floor.

"One year, I think next week"

"Okay..." '

They continued to walk in silence until they got to Hermione's office next to Draco's where he could leave her with an awkward "See you later, I guess"


	6. Chapter 6

**Hi guys, I know it has been a long time since I updated this story, and I'm sorry, I've been busy (for what has it been, two months?) Anyways, I hope you guys can forgive me, because I am starting to think about starting to update the story again, I have a little story-line planned out that I really like, and I hope you will like it too.**

 **Here's the story you might have been waiting for:**

 _Okay Draco think! What do you know about the family of McCancen?_

A strong knock on the door interrupted Draco's so-called working.

"Come in"

Hermione opens the door and says hi.

"Can I look at the McNair case?" She asks and looks around the office.

Draco nods and gets up from the chair and starts looking on his completely unorganized desk. After looking through three piles of paper and one and a half box he starts looking through the drawers.

"Your office is rather messy" The girl points out.

"I am aware" Draco sighs and starts looking in the fourth drawer.

Hermione starts looking in a box next to the door marked "Outgoing".

"That's the garbage-can" Draco chuckles.

"It's marked outgoing" Hermione points at the text.

"Nah, that is in that box on my desk now. Try looking in the box in the corner"

After a few minutes, Draco finds it on top of a bookshelf and hands it to Hermione.

"Thanks," she says and leaves.

- **Pagebreak-**

"So how's working with the girl who slept with her boss?" Blaise chuckles.

"Are you sure that rumor is true?" Draco took a bite of his tuna sandwich and looked at his friend on the other side of the table.

"I have my reasons to believe that, yes" Blaise took a bite of his chicken salad.

"Don't believe everything you hear" Draco mumbled.

"But believe this" Blaise says, "This girl I used to date had the most awesome-"

"First of all, did you date her or sleep with her and never called her again?"

"Actually I slept with her twice and never called her again"

"Second of all, I don't want to hear details about your sex life"

"Fine" Blaise rolled his eyes, "Your loss"

"So how's work going?" Draco wonders.

The young men sit for almost an hour talking, mostly about some of the women Blaise has "dated", but some about Adeline too, who Blaise thought sounded like a good shag, and Draco wanted to know how someone can _sound_ like a good shag which resulted in Blaise wondering what happened to the fun Draco.

After the conversation faded out Draco vent back to the office, only to run into Hermione Granger in the Elevator.

"Hi" She mumbles and looks intensely at the sign saying "Ministry Of Magic" in golden letters.

"Hi," Draco says and tries to come up with something funny to say about the sign, "New sign?" He asks.

 _New sign? New sign?! New SiGN?! NEW SIGN?! Draco, was that supposed to be funny?_

The girl turns around and looks at him with brown eyes.

"I don't think so," She says quietly

"Me neither" Draco sighs.

"Investigation Department" The Elevator announced as they got off the elevator.

After walking for a while they meet their boss, Hugo. Hermione, who had been looking like she had eaten a rotten lemon just a minute ago, was now smiling brightly and talking to Hugo about some case Draco didn't even know it existed. He didn't know if she was really interested or if she just wanted to be a good employee.

Draco zoned back in and realized, to his big dismay, that Hugo was joking about the rumor about Hermione.

"And I'm sorry, Granger" Hugo chuckled, "you won't get a pay rise. Well maybe I would consider it if you would to sleep with me too"

Hermione looked like she was about to dig a hole in the floor, only to get away from him.

Hugo was just about to put his arm around Hermione when Draco said something about a meeting with someone and got them both away from Hugo.

"Thanks" Hermione mumbled.

"Any t-" Draco changed his mind, "Don't worry about it"

Hermione tried to brush away some nonexistent dust from her shirt to avoid his eyes.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, he's only joking" And with that, she disappeared into her office.

Draco sat down in his office, guessing when she would come back to his office to borrow a file. He was only 26 seconds wrong.

"Can I borrow the-" she said when she entered.

"Jones file" Draco filled in, "I don't know where it is, you're going to have to help me look"

Hermione sighed loudly but agreed. She started looking through the boxes in one of the corners and was trying desperately to avoid to talk to him, and he casually strolled closer to the door, looking in boxes on the way.  
Well at the door, he locked it. He wanted answers, and for the first time in his life, he was worried about someone outside of his family, and it was driving him crazy.

"You're not fine," He said while sitting down behind his desk again.

"Yes, I am" Hermione did not turn around, but started looking in a new box of disorganized papers.

"No, you're not"

"Draco" Hermione turned around and looked at him, "You don't know me. You don't know anything that is going on in my life, and therefore you don't know whether or not I am fine" She turned around to leave but was stopped when Draco announced that the door was locked.

"Unlock it please," She said, not leaving the door.

"Not until you tell me what's going on" He crossed his arms over his chest.

"Okay, fine" She threw her hand up in defeat. Draco stood up to be able to unlock the door soon enough.

The girl took a deep breath and tried to think of what to say.

"I'm not fine" She started, "But you can't help me. Now unlock the door before I hex you"

Draco slowly unlocked the door.

 **-Pagebreak-**

When Draco finally unlocked the door she wasn't slow out of it and was going to hurry into her office, if it wasn't so that she was about to fall back into the door behind her because of the man she ran into.

"Watch where you're going, mudblood" Blaise Zabini looked her from top to toe and raised an eyebrow.  
"Ooh" He chuckled, "I get why Draco scored with you"

"Excuse me?" The girl said.

"You look like an easy chick" Blaise chuckled again.

"And why would you think Draco would have 'scored' with me?" She asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Because," The guy said, "I am Draco's roommate, I saw you two making out in the living room, and not to mention noises through the walls.

"Shut up," The girl said and tried to think of an appropriate curse for the situation.

"Oh, why would I?" He raised an eyebrow, "You're just an easy chick with no brain that sleeps with everything that moves"

Before he could say anything more Hermione ran off to her office, which wasn't very far away, but far enough to escape the mean man outside Draco Malfoy's office.

Inside Draco Malfoy's office Draco stood, furius about what he just heard through the door.  
He was going to kill Blaise.


	7. Chapter 7

It was weird. It was weirdly quiet. Hermione Granger hadn't been seen at the office for over a week. No-one knew where she was. There were rumors going around the office,

 _"I bet she's afraid to get fired"_

 _"Maybe she tried to sleep with Hugo?"_

 _"She's just sick. She would never miss work"_

 _"She hasn't taken a break since she started Hogwarts, she's probably just tired, really really tired"_

 _"Who cares? She's probably just sick"_

 _"She maybe is going to quit?"_

 _"Maybe she's just working really hard?"_

But none of the rumors seemed possible to Draco. For a fact, he knew she was at work, he had, for example, heard a few sounds through the wall. Mostly it was, boxes being opened and drawers closing, but also quiet, muffled sobs from time to time.

He hadn't spoken to Blaise more than necessary this week, only a simple 'good morning' every morning, no lunches, dinners or bars this week. And that had resulted in two things, 1, He had gotten a few weird looks from Blaise over the week, and 2, his effort at work had gotten a LOT better.

He hated Blaise for saying such things about Hermione. And he wished he could say something about talking her into it, but the thing was, he couldn't remember a single thing from that night, well now he could remember Her coming back with two beers and some nachos. "I love Nachos" He remembered her say and he just mumbled an mhm.

 _What is happening to me?_

He was starting to miss talking to Her, even if they only had a short conversation about a file per day, he missed it. She was nice, and rather funny too. He was regretting not giving her a chance back in Hogwarts, maybe they could have been friends. He wished they could have been friends. Maybe he wouldn't have been such a jerk to all those people. _What is happening to me? Why am I all of the sudden sorry for everything? I never used to care._

 _Wow, my parents must have screwed me up real bad if I never used to care..._

"Draco? Wanna go to lunch?" The girl standing in the doorway was tall with pitch black hair and dark skin, and bright blue eyes, and her name was Gina. She was actually three years older than Draco, and except for Hugo, she was the oldest one in their office.  
"Um... sure. Let me just finish this off first"  
"Is it okay if I go ask Josh, Cara, and Samuel too?"  
"Not Carl?"  
"He's in a meeting. With Hugo. Keep him in your prayers" She laughed a little and left the office, while Draco scribbled down a few things on the paper before him.  
Minutes later he took his coat and left the room.

The rest of the week passes without any further complications. Carl did not get fired, Hugo wanted to invite him to something called "a football match".  
Apparently, it's quite a big thing in the muggle world. Cara had to explain it to him. It took one and a half lunch for him to understand it.  
Why on earth would you kick a ball around and only have one place to score. Way too easy.

It was now Friday afternoon and Draco could not wait to go home for the weekend.  
The weekend was only 1 hour 42 minutes and 18 seconds away.

 _Focus Draco!_

1 hour 41 minutes 42 seconds left

 _Come on focus!_

1 hour 41 minutes 20 seconds

 _Is that clock broken?_

1 hour 41 minutes 11 seconds

 _Yeah, It probably is._

1 hour 41 minutes 8 seconds

 _It is broken. I should fix it._

Draco was just climbing up on a chair to fix the clock when someone knocked on the door.

"Come in!" Draco was now trying to take the clock away from the wall. It was hard. Probably a binding charm or something.

"What are you doing?" Draco was now leaning back while holding the clock with both hands to remove it from the wall.

He was close to falling down when he realized that Hermione was standing in the doorway, arms crossed over her chest and eyebrows up in the middle of her forehead.

"Uhmghga" He mumbled.

 _What!?_

"Yeah. What language is that?" She smiled at him. Her mouth was her usual amused smile but her eyes, they were... not. Not at all. If he looked carefully he could see some signs of crying; redness around her eyes, shiny eyes. And it was something else about them.

He didn't even realize that he was stepping closer to her, and was at the end only barely two feet from her, never breaking eye contact.

"Draco?"

"Yeah?"

"What are you doing?"

"What's up with your eyes?"

"What?"

"Did I say that out loud?"

"What?"

"Nevermind" He took a step closer. She took a step back.

"Can I-"

Draco took another step closer and she took another step back.

"Can I borrow-"

Draco took another step closer and she took another step back.

"Can I borrow the Mc-"

Draco took another step closer. Hermione felt her hands touch the wall behind her. She backed the little distance until her back touched the wall too. Draco was closer than he should be right now. Much closer. What was he doing?

"Why were you crying in your office?"

"What?!" She put her hands on his chest and pushed him back. It only resulted in a few inched more space between them. He was

definitely stronger than you could think.

"Okay listen up" He looked her up and down, "I know that you're not okay. You don't have to act like it. At least not with me. And there is no possibility in merlin that you're more screwed up than me so use that as something to lean on."

"What?"

"I know that Hugo is harassing you and Blaise is being a real jerk, what else is going on?"

"You really want to know?" Her eyes had some kind of emotion he couldn't quite name in them. They were scared and hopeful and insecure and thankful and... and broken.

"Yes"

"Okay" She lightly shook her head and stood up straight, "I am completely broken, all the way through. Where should I even start?"  
She took a deep breath, "Everyone in the whole wizarding world think I got fired because I slept with my boss. Which isn't even true. I got fired because I did not sleep with him. And then my new boss is harassing me and making 'jokes' about sleeping with me and the guy who I did sleep with has a best friend who is hurting me repeatedly, and everyone is making fun of me, and I haven't told Harry or Ginny because I don't want to worry them and I have no parents around"

Draco looked at her. He had so many things he wanted to say, but she wasn't finished. But she had tears streaming down her cheeks even though she furiously brushed them away.

"And now they are thinking about giving up on the search and I lost what might have been the love of my life and I have only two friends and..."  
She can't say more before she breaks down crying.

Draco carefully takes a step closer and slowly puts his arms around her. She puts her arms around his stomach and lets out a low sob.  
Draco is actually quite a bit taller than her. The top of her head almost reached his jaw. Her hair swings as she sobs. He leans his head down a bit and rests it on her head. Her hair smells good. Like lavender.

"It's going to be okay" he whispers.

"How do you know?"

"Because, every time you think, this time it won't work out is the time you make it back out, and stronger than ever"  
She wraps her arms tighter around him.


	8. Chapter 8

**Thank you to all of you who have followed and/or favorited this story. It means a lot!**

"Why would you think that?!" Josh laughed

"Because. You were on my couch in only your underwear and my sister was sleeping in your shirt on the floor!" Cara took a chug of her beer and pointed at the couch in the corner.

Cara, Josh, Hermione, and Draco were sitting on the floor in Cara's apartment, with a few bottles of beer and a bottle of firewhiskey. The couch in the corner was completely ripped up and broken, Cara had been catsitting last week. It did not end very well.  
Josh and Cara were now discussing the time Cara thought Josh slept with her sister.

Hermione slowly took a sip of her firewhiskey and looked at him. She raised an eyebrow and smiled amusedly.

Since the incident in Draco's office, they had become better and better friends. They hung out sometimes on the weekends and often had lunch together at work. Hermione had even promised to help him clean his office.  
He had realized that she actually only had two friends, that both were too busy with their own life that they didn't have too much time for her. But he could tell how much she loved them. Every time she spoke of them she had a smile on her face, even if it sometimes were so weak no-one would notice it but Draco.  
There were other things Draco noticed about her, like the way she chews on her lower lip when she is thinking or doing a hard assignment, and the way her hair bounces when she laughs, and the little dimple in her left cheek when she smiles.

"How about you, Hermione?" Josh raised his glass towards her, "Anyone special in your life?"

"Not really" She smiled at Josh, and only for a brief second she glanced towards Draco, but the moment was over so quickly Draco wasn't sure it ever happened.

As the night carries on Josh and Cara gets more and more sloshed for what seems to be every moment.  
This pretty much leaves Draco and Hermione alone to talk about whatever they feel like.

Draco watched as Hermione pulled Cara up from lying down.

"What?" The brunette raised an eyebrow.

"Nothing" Draco shrugged.

"Kay..." She smiled.

"To Draco and Adeline" Josh shouts, raising his glass and then sweeps the whole thing. Cara does the same.

"So, how's Harry and Ginny?" Draco looks over at the sober girl.

"Good, I think" She bites her lip, "Haven't talked to them in a week"

"I dare you guys to dare us to dare you to dare us to make out" Cara slurs and points between her and Hermione.

"Okay, Cara, calm down a second" Hermione pushes Cara away as she tried to get closer, "Draco what time is it?"

Draco looks at the clock.  
"One Am" He announces, "Maybe it is time to take you home, Josh, mate"

"I dare you to kiss the lamp" Cara laughs.

"Um..." Draco looks over at Cara as he tries to get Josh to his feet, "What?"

"That. Lamp," She points at the lamp in the corner.

"Let's go?" The other girl asks.

"Yup"

Draco managed to pull Josh to his feet.

They take Josh between them and walks out in the hallway.

"Bye, guys" Cara screams from the apartment, "Bye! Bye! Bye!"

Hermione shuts the door with a smack and then comes to Draco's rescue as he's about to drop Josh on the ground.  
Josh is now far beyond the point of being unable to walk, he can barely put his feet down towards the ground. They take one arm each and begins to walk towards the stairs.

"Is it going okay?" Draco looks over Josh's shoulders at the girl, who's slightly shorter than Josh and on top of that Josh must weigh a lot more than her. She is not obviously struggling but it is not going too easy either.

"Yeah" She breaths, "I'm not too strong, but I'm stubborn" She smiles at him. He knew that was true. He had only known her for a few weeks but still, she sometimes was at work before 6 am to work on an assignment. Back in Hogwarts, she had definitely been stubborn. Not to mention the Horcrux hunt she told him about. There she was definitely stubborn. He liked how wilful she was.

It took them nearly 10 minutes to get down the stairs. It was 3 floors, but anyways... 10 minutes?

"Hold on," Draco says and tries to get a better hold of Josh.

"I'm not apparating with you guys," She says, crossing her arms.

"Why not?"

"I don't want any of us to get splinched"

"So what are you going to do then?" Draco raised an eyebrow.

"Take the subway" She smiled, "See you Tuesday" She began to walk away from them.

"Hey wait" She turns around and looks at him, "I'll come with"

"I am capable of taking the subway by my self" She laughed, "probably more than you"

"I too can take the subway" He had now caught up with her.

"Um no you can't" She walked a few steps.

"Yes I totally can"

"Do you have a subway card?" She crossed her arms and looked at him.

"Trick question, there is no subway cards" He smiled his usual smug smile.

"Not a trick question. Look here's mine" She held up a little card from her pocket.

 _Fuck_

Now it was her turn to do a smug smile.

"This is the only time you're going to be right around me, ever" He hurried up to catch up with her again.

"Oh, that's where you're wrong, Malfoy, That's where you're wrong" She smiled to herself and kept walking.

"You called me Malfoy...?" He started walking too.

"Yeah..." She wrinkled her nose, "It felt wrong to say..." She laughed and took a grip on Josh.

"Soo..." Draco smiled, "Which way is the subway?"

-Page Break -

They had managed to dump Josh in a seat and were now standing as the subway slipped forward on the rail.

Draco looked at the girl with the bushy hair just in front of him. She had the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen. They were some kind of deep espresso color, now they looked tired, but back at Cara's apartment when they were leaving the deep espresso eyes had been sparkling with golden sparks. Her nose had a pale splash of freckles and her lips were the-

 _Draco, now you have to calm down. What are you doing? What. Are. You. Doing?_

"Draco" She shook his arm to get his attention.

"Yeah. Sorry" He felt his cheeks burn, "Sorry"

"This is my stop" She pointed to the doors, "And yours too. Let's go!" She pulled his arm and he got a hold of Josh. They stumbled off the subway just in time before the doors closed.


	9. Chapter 9

**Three things before the chapter;**

 **1\. Thank you to everyone who has favorited and/or followed the story. It means a lot and it makes me want to update more often.**

 **2\. For the purpose of the story, Draco Malfoy's birthday is November 12th instead of June 5th. Thank you for your time.**

 **3\. Sadly I don't own Harry Potter. J.K Rowling does, so credit to her.**

 **Let the chapter begin :)**

"To Josh's 20th birthday" Draco raised his glass and shouted. Josh and Hermione raised their glasses too.

"Yeah" Hermione smiled brightly at them both. _How could she have so pretty eyes?_

The eyes turned away and scanned the room.

They were all sitting on the couch in Draco's apartment, Well, It was Draco's and Blaise's apartment. The couch was olive green and the puffy armchair in the corner was red. Not bright red like lipstick, more like a maroon shade. Hermione was seated in the armchair with her knees drawn up to her chest and him and Josh were seated on the couch.

"Where is Cara?" Josh looked up from the birthday card Hermione had gotten him.

"She floo-called me this morning; She's sick" Hermione lifted her head and flashed one of the smiles Draco adored so much.

The night carried on without any bigger complications and was filled with jokes, conversation, and games instead. Josh was a little bummed he couldn't spend his 20th birthday at a pub or bar anywhere but got over it when Hermione offered him firewhiskey as a consolation prize. She was happy, and bright, and... purely enchanting, and somewhere along the jokes and smiles Draco realized he liked her. Like, like like her. It was weird to admit. But he could see why it happened. What he couldn't understand was why he hadn't realized how amazing she was back in school. Maybe she would have changed it all...

"Well, I should get going..." Josh stood up and grabbed his glass.

"No no" Hermione reached out, "We'll clean up. See you Tuesday?"

"Defenantly" Josh grabbed his coat, "Bye guys. And thanks!"

"Later, Josh" Draco shouted and the door slammed closed.

"Soo..." Hermione turned around and scanned the room.

"Are you looking for something?" Her eyes met his, "Or maybe, someone?"

"No... I don't know what you're talking about..."

"Okay..." Draco shrugged, "If you say so..."

Hermione picked up the glasses and smiled at him.

"Hey, Hermione?"

The door burst open.

"Oh look at that" a familiar voice sounded, "They're back"

"That doesn't rhyme" Draco pointed out, trying to be funny. Hermione didn't seem to get it. She was looking at the floor.

"I know," Blaise said, clearly annoyed about the situation, "But I'll leave you and that alone"

"That?" Draco crossed his arms.

"That is a mudblood. Not good enough to be called something else than 'that'" Blaise pointed at Hermione and chuckled at her vulnerable expression, "I can't believe you would sleep with someone worth nothing at all. I mean the world would probably be happy if she disappeared" Hermione's arms clung around her torso like her life depended on it.

"Shut up" Draco growled.

"Oh, what was that?" Blaise smiled provocatively, "Continue? I'm happy to"

Hermione's eyes found his, but before he had the chance to say something she started to walk. Started to walk away from Blaise, from him, from their friendship too probably.

"Shut up" Draco's voice could have cut through stone.

"What?" Blaise was surprised at Draco's sudden change of voice; he took a step back.

"Shut the hell up" Draco took a step closer and straightened up, "You're hell of mean and I don't fucking know why, but I want it to stop. You're hurting -" A slam from the hall told Draco Hermione had left the apartment. It felt like someone sat down on Draco's shoulders.

His legs aimed for the door, and his mind ignored Blaise's angry shouts, it was all background noise. He needed to tell her.

The door opened before him and he managed to get his brain back into his body.  
"Hermione!" He shouted. She kept walking, maybe even a little faster than before.  
"Hermione!" He broke into a jog. She didn't wait for him, "Hermione, please!" He started to run.

He catches her right before she goes around the corner.  
He grabbed her arm. She dried some tears off her cheeks as she turned around.

Draco looked her in the eye, let go of her arm and took a deep breath.

"Will you go out with me?" He asked as steadily as he possibly could.

"What?" Hermione looked up at him with confused eyes.

"Will you go out with me?" He repeated.

She stared at him for a while.

 _Oh god, this is it._

 _She is going to tell me off right now. This is the end._

Her lips formed a small smile as she nodded

"Yeah, sure. I would love to" She smiled up at him, then turned around and walked away.

Draco couldn't remember the last time he had been this happy.

 **I'm sorry it took so long to update. I've had a lot in school and for some reason I really struggled with this chapter. I'm sorry it was so short too, but I will update again within a week (I think).  
Until next time**


	10. Chapter 10

**Thank you to all of those who have followed or/and favorited this story, it means a lot. And a special thanks to Lun27 for your review (my first review, YAY! )**

 **Credit to JK Rowling for the wonderful universe that is Harry Potter**

* * *

It was a weird sight, frankly; Draco Malfoy was standing in the kitchen, dressed in only pajama pants with messy hair. He was humming to ' _All Star_ '. He had heard it in a store once and he really liked it. He was almost dancing around, cooking breakfast.

Blaise was shocked when he entered the room. Draco never cooks breakfast, usually.

"Something special going on?" He asked, amused, and sat down on the bar stool across from Draco's dancing area, aka the kitchen floor.

* * *

What was even weirder was the fact Draco acted like that the whole day, well until Blaise asked him in the afternoon:

"Don't you got a date with Adeline in an hour?"

That got Draco back to earth.

 _Shit. Maybe call it off?_

"Um, yeah I do..." He said, as casual as he could manage. _Did Hermione know I was seeing Adeline? Of course, she did, right? Or? Shit. Maybe she hasn't realized and it would give me time to fix this..?_

"So maybe you should get dressed?" Blaise lifted a brow.

"What do you mean?"

Blaise almost couldn't keep a straight face.

"I mean you've been dancing around in pajamas the whole day" Draco looked down and realized, to his big dismay, that Blaise was right. He was wearing a pair of blue pajama pants and a grey t-shirt.

He hurried into his room to find some clothes, and all thoughts about the Hermione-problem was gone like the wind.

* * *

Draco was just about to leave when Blaise entered the room again.

"So you managed to get dressed" He chuckled.

"Yeah. Bye" Draco said shortly.

"I won't wait up" Blaise had to lean against the kitchen counter to stand up straight.

 _It wasn't funny._ He didn't say that out loud though. He didn't want a lecture about humour from Blaise again.

The door opened inwards, luckily, otherwise, it would have hit the girl standing outside of it.

"Hi" Draco was honestly quite shocked to see Hermione there, and all the thoughts from before came rushing back.

Her face wasn't the usual one. Now she was serious. It was like school all over again.

"Are you still dating Adeline?" Her voice was steady, almost as steady as her eyes. They didn't look away.

"I don't like her,"Draco said simply. He didn't know what else to say. This was all so confusing and...

"That wasn't my question" Her eyes searched deep into his soul, and maybe she saw something she didn't like there because she turned around and left.

 _Shit. Shit. Shit. What were you thinking Draco?_

He punched the wall, as hard as he could manage. When a small hole was starting to form in the wall he sat down, leaning his head against the wall behind him, with aching fists shaking in his lap.

There was really no reason for him to pity himself. This was all his own fault, and after a while of thinking, he realized the only one who could fix this was himself. This time he couldn't sit around and wait for someone else to fix the problem. And in the blink of an eye, his head was as clear as glass. He knew exactly what he wanted and how to get it. He wanted Hermione, and he had to break up with Adeline to get her. But with that thought, he started to panic a little. What if she didn't want to go out with him after this? Just because he would break up with Adeline didn't mean she would go out with him again, he realized.

 _I don't want to be an old man regretting things I never did_

 _Wow Draco, that's almost a cliché..._

 _FOCUS! Let's go._

Draco got up, and hoped, ney, prayed it would work.

Draco had never been the religious type. He had never been to a church, synagogue or mosque, or any other place that practiced religion like that.  
He didn't know what god to pray to. He didn't even know if it was gods you prayed to, or if you prayed to someone or something else.

He apparated away outside the building, and to the café, and after a few minutes of waiting, Adeline showed up too.

"'Ello," She said. Her blonde hair was curled and braided in some complicated way Draco couldn't quite understand, and her lips were shining bright with pink lipstick, shocking pink, to be more exact. Her blue eyes were blinking at him and she was dressed in some kind of, what according to Draco was wrapping paper. It made her look extremely thin.

"Hi" He held out his hand for her to shake, which she didn't really seem to like, but she reluctantly shook the hand.

"Should we go eenside?"  
They together walked inside and got a little table. After ordering a coffee for himself and a sugarfree ice tea for Adeline they started talking, well Adeline started talking. She really liked to talk and didn't seem to enjoy listening to anything Draco had to say.  
After an unbearably long story with excruciatingly many details about shoe shopping, Draco realized he'd had enough. He didn't mind shoe shopping, not at all actually. He enjoyed shoe shopping. But who tells this many details in a story?!  
"And after I did zat I buy ze peenk shoes with ze whize bows too because zey were-"

"You know what, Adeline" Draco watched as Adeline's eyes widened and as her pedicured nails tapped eagerly on the wooden table, and to Draco's great horror left marks- claw marks there, "I can't do this. I think we should break up"

"What?" She took a deep breath to regain her calm but put her hand over Draco's, digging her nai- claws into his skin

 _Ow. Ow ow. That woman has claws like a tiger!_

"I just think that we don't work very well together and that we shou- should break up" Draco winced as she pressed her claws deeper into his skin.

Adeline just stared at him, eyes blanc and free from any trace of emotion. They scanned him and seconds seemed to turn into minutes.

"Fine"

"You're okay with this, right?" Draco asked, not caring at all what the answer was going to be, he just wanted to get out of here, so he could see Hermione.

"I don need you" Her eyes were much smaller than usual and her stare gave Draco the creeps.

"I never said you did" Another round of chills crept down Draco's back.

"I 'ope I never have zo see you again" She took her purse and left, "I don need you!" She didn't turn around to say it, she just shouted it. The whole café looked at her, and when the door closed behind her their eyes turned to Draco, who tried to take himself to the door unnoticed, without any luck since the whole café was assuming that he was breaking up with her, which technically was true, they just didn't know the reason.

Outside the café the air was chilly and the darkness was dropping its dark cloak over London. Since he didn't have a watch with him he didn't know the exact time, but he guessed around 7.30-8? Maybe it was the wrong time to go to Hermione's... He guessed that she wasn't sitting at home a Sunday night, since she was free on Mondays. He acknowledged the option that she was out on a date, and even though he hated the thought about her on a date with someone else, and all he wanted to do was to rush over there and punch the date in the face, and kiss Hermione but... Maybe it wasn't the right time? Maybe tomorrow?

* * *

He walked through the door, only to find Blaise sitting on a bar stool in the kitchen, looking at him with a grin.

"So you did wait up..." Draco muttered and tried to get his shoes off.

Blaise laughed. He laughed so hard he slammed his fist on the table a few times. Seven times to be exact.

"I'm going to bed..." Draco silently slipped into his room and changed into pajamas. He sat down on the bed.

"Accio Chocolatefrog" He silently whipped his wand and a box came flying at him.  
He had always liked chocolatefrogs; they made him feel better when he was sad. Maybe needless to say, but he has had a lot of them during sixth year.  
He flipped the card and found Bertie Bott staring back at him. He shrugged and put the card on the nightstand on his right side.

"Good night" Blaise shouted through the door.

"Night" He settled in between the white and grey sheets and looked around the room while taking a bite of the frog. To his left were the door, the closet, and the bookshelf. Some of the books were so new he had never had the chance to read them, while some of the books were so old they had been in his family for hundreds of years. His favorite wasn't there. He had lost it, to Hermione. She had borrowed it, and as a pledge, he had gotten her copy of 'Little Women' to read in the meantime. He had read a few chapters but still liked his 'Robinson Crusoe' that Hermione had taken, better. He had originally gotten the book on his 15th birthday and had read it several times since.

He turned out the light and turned in the bed. He wouldn't be able to sleep for hours., he knew it.  
He tried to figure out what to say to Hermione. It wasn't an easy task.

* * *

When Blaise got home from work the following night Draco was sitting on a bar stool with his head in his hands.

"You okay, mate?"

Draco slowly shook his head.

"What's up?"

"I screwed up"

"How?"

"With a girl"

"How bad?"

"As in asking her out while still dating Adeline..."

"And now..?"

"I can't seem to get out of this chair and go to her place"

"It will be okay" Blaise patted Draco's back and went to make some dinner.

Draco buried his head in his arms and sighed. _Was it going to be okay?_

The whole night Draco sat on that chair. With his head in his arms. In his head going over every single way his visit to Hermione could end. It turned out quite weird in some versions. Like Draco being eaten by a squid once, but he quickly realized that Hermione probably wasn't keeping a giant squid in her bathroom.

* * *

The following day Draco went to work, only to face the fact that Hermione had called in sick. He was bummed he couldn't talk to her now, and that he had to take over her work for the day too. She really had a lot going on there. And what the hell was S.P.E.W?

The day couldn't end soon enough. He even missed lunch he had so much work to do. Turned out S.P.E.W was started by Hermione in 1994 and stood for Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare. He didn't really understand the point of it. The houseelfs liked to work, didn't they? He had also worked on like 14 different cases, 7 other societies and a few suspect objects.

When the day finally ended, around 2 hours later than usual, he decided to hurry over to Hermione's place.  
He had always kind of liked the feeling of apparating. He knew that a lot of people felt nauseous, but he didn't, for some reason.

He knocked on the dark wooden door. No answer.  
He knocked again. Still no answer.

"Alohomora" He whispered. The hallway was dark and he felt a bit like a burglar. He lightly pushed the door and it slid open. He stepped into her combined living room and kitchen. "Hermione?" He spoke.

A screech and a crash sounded from his left, and he turned to see Hermione standing by the window between a couch and the kitchen counter.  
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" She bent down to pick up the broken pot on the ground. He carefully walked by the couch and bookshelves left from the door and over to Hermione.

"Sorry" He whispered. His lowered his hands to the floor and tried to collect some of the dirt, "And I'm sorry about your plant too"

"What are you doing here?" She took the pieces of the pot over to the kitchen counter, "Reparo" She flicked her wand and the pot quickly put itself back together. She turned around and quickly used a cleaning charm on the floor.

"I came here to talk to you actually" Draco slowly approached.

"You don't say..."

Draco chuckled. "I'm sorry" He positioned himself across the table from her.

"About what, this time?" She raised a brow.

"About asking you out while I was going out with Adeline..."

She stilled and her eyes met his. Brown met grey.

"And I broke up with her during Sunday night" He continued, not quite sure of what to say, "and I'm sorry that I didn't break up with her before asking you, and I know about your morals and I'm really sorry. It all happened so fast, I didn't really have the time to think this all through..."

"Aaaand..?" Draco was unable to read her face. Was it happy? Was it angry?

"And... I'm sorry," Draco took a pause to breath, "And I was wondering, if maybe, if you're not too disliking of me, you would like to go out with me?"

She smiled a soft smile and lightly shook her head while laughing lightly.  
"I can't belive I'm saying this but, yeah. I would like that"

 _AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!_

Inside Draco was screaming and cheering, but outside-Draco was a lot cooler.

"Thanks," He said, though he realized he was smiling like a fool. He tried to fix it, but it proved to be a lot harder than expected.  
Hermione tucked her hair behind her ear and smiled back at him.

"Are you going to do something, or are you going to stand there smiling the whole night?" She said after a few minutes. Draco quickly shook his head to regain control over his thoughts.

"What do you say about Friday night?" He said, now afraid to meet her eyes, and therefore staring intensely at the floor.

"Friday night sounds nice," She said, he could almost hear her smile.

"Then I'll be going" He turned around and aimed for the door.

"Good night, Draco," The girl said, leaning against the door when he was just about to walk down the stairs.

"Good night, Hermione" He turned around and met her eyes once more before she shut the door.

He wished Friday night was now.


	11. Chapter 11

**Thanks to all of you who have favorited and/or followed this story.  
If you got a minute, it would mean the world to me if you would use said minute to leave a little review below :)  
I hope you like this chapter! I'm sorry if it isn't too good, I just wanted ot get it out since it was so long since my last update (sorry about that)  
**

Draco looked himself in the mirror. The white and blue tiling mingled into his white shirt. It made him look rather pale. He had combed his hair a little bit to his side. He met his own eyes in the mirror. According to himself, his eyes were too grey, they made him look lifeless. He had never liked them. He had always wanted some color in them, but wishing never made things true, only actions did. Speaking of actions, one time during his first year he had ended up in the hospital wing after trying to transform his eyes into blue. It kind of worked, but it made him blind. Thank god Madame Pomfrey knew what she was doing. He had begged her never to tell anyone, but he himself had told Blaise and Theo once, though they were drunk so he wasn't sure if they could remember it.

Zoning back into reality he realized it was time to leave.

He quickly brushed through his hair again and grabbed his jacket.

* * *

Draco was standing on the pavement in front of the restaurant. The soft lights from inside hit his back. The cars rushing by in front of him scared him, so he was standing a good nine feet from the road.

"Hi" Draco turned around and met the girl's eyes. They were sparkling with gold. She was in a maroon, lace, off the shoulders dress, and the fabric was going in a wavy pattern over her chest. It was tight around her waist, but a little looser around her legs. It ended just above her knees. The arms were seethrough but the beautiful flowers and petals were still visible. Draco's eyes landed on the lower part of her left arm.

Hermione shifted uncomfortably.

"Hi," He said, dragging his gaze to her face, "You look good"

"Thanks" She tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear.

"Should we go inside?"

"We're eating here?"

Draco nodded,

"Okay..." She smiled a soft smile.

"Ladies first" Draco held the door.

"Thank you" Hermione strode past him, and he noticed that she wasn't wearing heels like expected. She was wearing black flats.

They got the table and went to sit down. Draco held out her chair for her.

"What a gentleman" She smiled, kneeling while Draco pushed the chair in. She knew from experience that it was quite hard for someone to move a chair while someone was sitting on it. Draco settled down in his own chair, across from her, "Holds doors, and pulls out your chair. Who would have thought?" Her eyes met his.

 _Merlin, she was pretty_

"Mhm..."

 _Was he even listening?_

"So..."

Hermione scanned the room around her. Small tables were sprinkled in the room. Each table had a small candle on it. Waiters in black and white were taking peoples orders and carrying around plates of food.  
At the table closest to them sat a couple. Looked like they had been married for years. She turned back to the table she was sitting at and noticed that Draco was looking at her, almost staring.  
Hermione's eyes traveled from his platinum blonde hair, to his grey eyes, down to his sharp jawline, and further down to his neck. He was wearing a white shirt and black slacks.

 _Didn't he wear that in school too?_

She cleared her throat and smiled softly.

The night carried on at the same pace, with small conversations about a little bit of everything. They ordered (Quorn for Hermione, and chicken for Draco), they got the food, and they ate.

They talked, sure, but this was something different than their usual friendship. The whole dinner was just... awkward? Like a big cloud had settled around them and brought with it a sense of uncomfortableness.

Draco paid. He said it was 'of course' he would pay, but you never know, Hermione thought. She had been on several dates where she had had to pay.

* * *

Later, while strolling around in a park nearby, the awkwardness had passed, and they were back on their usual path.

The moonlight shined on them, and it made her hair shimmer in the most beautiful tones of silvery brown.  
Draco literally couldn't take his eyes off her. The beautiful dress hugged her curves perfectly, and she was hot, to be unpoetic. Her eyes were shimmering with gold, and a little bit of silver, and she was smiling broadly.

"You know, I used to come here when I was little" She let her hands carefully brush through the rebate of tulips, all showing shadows of the different colors the beautiful flowers probably had in daylight, like blood red, sunrise-pink, yellow, white like pearls, purple, orange, turquoise like the ocean. All the colors one could possibly imagine.

"You did?"

"Yeah. With my parents" She turned her head and looked up at the night sky, looking for the moon. She stilled once she found it.

"It was almost ten years ago..." She whispered.

He took her hand and squeezed it, smiling down at her.

"You know what I used to do when I was a kid?" He asked her.

"What?"

"I used to play with Dobby on the Mansion grounds. In the gardens, and around the pond"

"You knew DOBBY when you were a kid?!" She let go of his hand and almost jumped, smiling brightly.

"Yeah, he used to work for my family you know. Until Potter freed him..."

Hermione laughed lightly.

"Riiiightttt. But he never told me it was your house-elf..." She grabbed his hand again, and he couldn't help but smile.

Hand in hand they walked through the garden, occasionally stopping to look at a certain flower, or to point at a constellation.  
Draco couldn't remember the last time he had smiled this much.

"You know something?" Draco asked, looking over at the witch next to him.

"I know quite a lot of things" She smiled innocently.

Draco stared bothered at her.

"No- I mean..."

Hermione laughed, and Draco gave her a cold stare.

"Okay, what?" Hermione calmed her laughs into quiet giggles.

"No... It was nothing"

"No, come on. Please tell me"

"Fine... During my first year of Hogwarts, I wanted to be your friend"

"Awww" Hermione got the same eyes someone usualy gets while watching a puppy, or maybe a fluffy kitten.

"Don't hold it against me" He muttered.

"How would I hold it against you? It's just so sweet" She squealed.

Draco snorted.

Hermione laughed.

"By the way, did you have time to finish your work last night?"

"Really, Hermione?" He raised his eyebrow, "Talking work at a date..?"

"Sorry" She mumbled.

 _Wait work..._

 _We work together..._

 _And are going on dates..._

 _Well, not dates, a date. Singular._

 _So far..._

 _Oh... How will we act at the office?_

 _Oh, Merlin, it is going to be awkward..._


	12. Chapter 12

**First, a big THANK YOU to all of you who has followed, favorited, reviewed, or read any of my chapters. It means a lot!**

 **Second, Well let's put it like this, if I owned Harry Potter, I would not have killed Fred Weasley, nor Tonks, nor Lupin, nor Dobby... This list might continue for a while...**

It had been a warm spring so far, so they hadn't been worried when they booked the Quidditch game, but the weather seemed to have let them down. It was 13 degrees Celsius and raining on and off.

Draco grumbled when some more water leaked into his shoes.

"Why are they never on time?" Blaise asked frustrated, and Draco grunted and went back to view his shoes as they got wetter and wetter.

"Theo!"

Draco almost jumped at Blaise's sudden shouting, but entirely correctly, Theodore Nott was walking towards them. He was wearing a black jacket and his sandy blonde hair was soaked and stuck to his forehead.

"Hey guys", he said, "should we go inside?"

"In a minute, we're waiting for Pansy" Blaise explained and shoved his hands further into his pockets.

"Pansy doesn't even like Quidditch?" Theo raised his left brow.

"I think she's just coming 'cause Draco's coming"

"Huh?" Draco returned to the conversation, without any clue of what was going on.

Blaise laughed, and seconds later a high-pitched shriek caught his attention.

"DRACO!"

"Oh Merlin, here she comes..."

Pansy Parkinson was running (kind of) towards them, which must have been very hard with her high-heeled boots. Her dark hair was cut short over her shoulders, and a dark brownish lipstick adorned her lips.

She gave Draco a hug with her arms around his neck and seemed to cling to him forever.

"Can we go inside now?" Blaise pulled them apart and started walking away with Theo.

Pansy was fast to follow.

* * *

"Boys! Hold up", Pansy interrupted their conversation, "I have to powder my nose"

"Damn it, Pansy, why?!" Blaise almost made Draco jump.

Theo hit Blaise's arm.

"Go ahead"

"Why do you always have to defend her?"

They bickered until she was back. Then Blaise led the way angrily.

* * *

"Everybody, let's give a warm welcoming to the mightly, Kenmare Kestrels!" The commentator shouted.

The arena clapped and whistled, as seven players dressed in green flew in.

When everybody had settled down the commentator continued:

"And now, let's give it up to the ruling masters from Cork!"

The crowd went mad as the seven players flew in.

Quickly Draco zoned out and everything but the game and his thoughts became a big blur.

And the biggest thing on his mind was if he had skipped out too easily of the professional quidditch-career? _It would have been darn cool to play for the Kenmare Kestrels. They are good though. Even if it weren't them, even if it was some sucky team, like the Chudley Cannons it would be cool.  
_

Maybe it was obvious but he didn't like his job at the ministry, it was just a way to pay the bills.

 _F*ck it, tomorrow I'm quitting my job and start searching for jobs in Quidditch._

The game went on, and both teams scored a lot, but in the end, Cork won, and Draco was pissed the whole way home.

 **Sorry for a short chapter! Xx**


	13. Chapter 13

**Hello, I do not own Harry Potter. That was all, thank you.**

The park was beautiful; like it always was at the beginning of June. The grass was green and the little pond in the middle was glistening. A few ducks were swimming around in it.

Draco and Hermione were sitting next to each other on a white and red blanket, which was placed under a tree. They had brought some fruit along for their third date.

The second one had been quite short, but nice. They had mostly walked around London. After a while, Hermione said she was meeting Ginny and hurried off towards the subway. Fortunately, they had ended it early. It had started to rain minutes later.

Draco looked to his left and studied Hermione's brown, bushy hair, which was braided, but some pieces had broken loose. She had on a blue shirt and a white skirt. Her eyes met his and she smiled a little. It was hard not to smile back.  
He turned back to the park.

"You're actually kind of pretty," He said.

"Gee, thanks" She chuckled. Draco looked at her.

"No- I- no- I just mean-" He stumbled over his words, "You are really pretty" He looked her in the eye.

"You don't look too bad yourself"

"You think I look bad?"

"No, muggle saying," She smiled, "It means you look good"

"Oh"

"Want a grape?" She threw one in his direction, he caught it with his mouth. She laughed a little. This time he did smile. But who doesn't when they hear the most amazing sound that has ever existed on earth?

They sat in silence for a while, looking over the park, and all the couples walking hand in hand. It really was a beautiful day for a date. Hermione played a little with his hair as they sit there, side by side. Her fingers tickled his scalp, but it felt nice.

"Draco?"

"Mhm"

"How can your hair be so soft?" She asked.

He turned his head and looked at her, their heads only inches apart.

"My secret, "He mumbles, "I can't tell you"

"You sure?" the space between them had grown smaller and smaller and was now only an inch, "I really want to know"

He could feel her breath against his chin. Her gaze flickered from his eyes to his lips and back again. A smile took form on his lips. Her lips on the other... Oh... He couldn't stand this anymore. He leaned in and placed his lips on hers. She kissed him back; he hadn't thought she would.

She was still playing with his hair.

* * *

Josh had his legs slung over the armrest of the armchair and was currently entertaining himself by throwing balls of paper at Draco, for no apparent reason.

He had been sitting there for the past hour. Blaise had let him in since he got there before Draco could get home. Draco himself? He may or may not have been kissing Hermione Granger for half an hour.

"Hey, Drake?"

"I've told you I don't like that nickname but, yes?"

"Have you gone on a date with some girl lately?"

"No...?"

"Okay..."

Draco went back to reading his book.

"Are you gay?"

"What?" He closed his book and left it at the table between them.

"I'm just wondering"

"Wondering if I'm _gay_?"

"Are you?"

"No"

"Kay... Just thought I would ask"

"Are _you_?"

"Nah"

Draco went back to his book and Josh went back to throwing paper at him.  
After the 49th paper ball at him Draco had had enough, and started throwing them back at Josh. Josh threw himself over the back of his chair to take cover; much more dramatic than it actually was.

"Hey, Drake?" He ducked as a few more paper balls flew at him.

"Yeah?"

Josh threw a ball over the chair and missed by several feet.  
"Why were you late?" Another ball came flying, "You're never late"

"I guess"- a ball hit Draco's chest - "I just lost track of time"

"Yes but"- Josh reached out and grabbed another ball - "what were you doing?"

"Walking, talking, you know- stuff"

"Talking to who?" A ball hit his forehead.

"What are you, the police?"

"Fine"

Draco settled down on the couch.

"At least tell me where you were?"

"Battersea Park"

"YOU WERE WITH HERMIONE GRANGER!" Josh shouted and stood up, only to get three balls thrown at him.

"What?" Draco also stood up, "How do you know that?"

"A. Talked to Hermione the other day. Said she was going there. B. You just told"

Draco clenched his fists.

"Are you dating Hermione Granger?"

"What?" Was his voice always that squeaky?

"You are, aren't you?" Josh took a few steps around the armchair and stood next to Draco.

"It's not official"

"Oh you're screwed"

"What?"

"You're screwed. Doomed. Damned. It won't work"

"What?"

"You guys WORK TOGETHER" Josh shouted and grabbed Draco's shoulders, "Hugo is really frickin' strict about this stuff"

"Who said we were going to tell Hugo?"

"Oh Hugo sees everything" Josh fell back into the couch, "He sees _everything_ " He started fidgeting with his fingers before easily sitting up and smiling brightly, "I wish you all luck in life. Now, tea?"


	14. Chapter 14

**Hi, I have multiple things to say, first off, I'm sorry for not updating for quite a while. To be honest I haven't really had the motivation or will. Hopefully, I will start updating again after this.  
Second, thank you to all of you who have followed, favorited, reviewed or just read the story.  
Third, if you are sensitive to blood, there's no pictures or anything, just a lot of talking about it in the first part. If you are sensitive to it, you can skip ahead to the next bold part of the text. Xx  
Fourth, I do not own Harry Potter or anything in that universe, only this plot. All credits go to JK Rowling.  
Happy reading.**

Hermione is in the great hall. It's utter and complete chaos around her. People are crying and screaming and running around. She knows only one thing. She has to find Ron. He promised that they would find each other.

"Hermione!" She turns around and finds Harry's jet black hair in the crowd.

"Harry!" She tries to make her way towards him, through the screaming and crying and running, "Did you find him?"

"He's here", He grabs her hand and pulls her towards the big doors, "hurry". As they come closer and closer to the doors the number of people reduces.  
On the floor close to the door a pile of clothes lies.

He must be in the corridor then, she thinks, just as Harry stops at the pile of clothes.

"He got bitten" Harry mumbles.

"I know" She falls to her knees by the boy she has known for so long, "Ron? Can you hear me?"

He turns his head toward her. His face doesn't have the same color it usually has, now it's pale and the strongest color there is the blood. She puts her hand on his and searches for something to say, a spell to perform maybe.

"Ron?"

"Mhm?" His voice is cracky and he looks tired when he says it.

"How are you?"

"I got bitten, Mione" He smiles a weak smile, but it doesn't reach his eyes.

"We can fix this, okay?" She searches for her wand in all of her pockets, cursing herself for not knowing exactly where it is.

Harry looks at them both, backing away for a moment, he knows what will happen. Hermione finally finds her wand and starts to mumble every spell she can think of.

"Hermione, no" Ron pushes her wand away then rests his head on the ground, as if it was hard to keep it up, even for a short moment.

"Please", she begs, "I can fix this," She leans over and to look at his neck.

"No, this time, it can't be fixed". As Hermione lifts his head a pool of blood reveals itself, running fast over the floor, reaching her knees.

"We can fix this," She says again, feeling her eyes watering and her voice shaking, "we can always fix it"

"It's okay" He whispers, drying her tears away, "You'll be okay"

"You'll be okay too, Ron" She puts her hands on the floor, leaning forward. Her legs are soaked in blood, as are her hands. He looks almost like a painting with the red background and his pale face. His hair looks even redder now.

"I love you, Hermione" Hermione takes his hand in his, as his head falls back even further on the floor, "take care"

"Don't you dare leave me here," She says, tears running down her cheeks, "You hear that? Don't you dare, okay? We can fix this. I love you too" His hands suddenly feel very lifeless and his head rolls to the side.

"No, no no no no, Ron!", she whispers, "Ron!?" She feels his neck for a pulse. "RON" she screams. No reply.

She puts her bloody hand on his forehead. There is blood, so much blood. She screams his name over and over again, continuing even after Harry comes and puts his arms around her. His legs get soaked in the blood too. She pulls her hair back, trying to take a deep breath. The blood from her hands run down her hair, over her back and down to her feet.

Someone comes and puts a white towel over him. The edges get stained red, leaving the outline of a body visible, the outline of Ron visible.

She woke up with a gasp, covered in sweat and tears and in panic. Her hands shook and she couldn't bring herself to calm down. Just breathe, she told herself, just breathe. We couldn't have saved him, he was too hurt. But the only thing on her mind was the big cut on his back that no one noticed, but also the biggest source of all the blood. All the grotesque amount of blood.

 **-LINE- (the blood won't be mentioned again after this x)**

Draco woke up with a jerk by a knock at his door. He turned in his bed. In the open door, a girl with wet, brown hair was standing. Draco sat up on the edge of the bed.

"Hermione? What are you doing here?"

She just shook her head. He got up. As he got closer he noticed her red, shiny eyes and the tearstains all over her face. He pulled her into a tight hug.

"I'm sorry", she whispered, "I couldn't think of anyone else to go to"

"What happened?

"I- I can't talk about it" She dried a single tear of her chin and looked up at him. "Can I stay here tonight?"

"Of course" He whispered as he pulled her into the room and closed the door behind them, "I'll get you something to change to"

Hermione started to pull her hoodie off as Draco went through his closet in the search for clothes for the broken girl on his bedroom floor.

As she changed into another pair of his pajamas he looked out the window at the pouring rain, thinking about what could possibly have gotten her so upset. He heard Hermione using a drying spell behind him and turned around, and examined her from top to toe. His pajama pants were a bit too big for her, he couldn't even see her toes, and the t-shirt was too big on her as well, but it was dry and soft so he figured it would work.

She turned away from Draco and wiped away another tear.

"Hey", he sat down on the bed, pulling her to him, "it's okay, whatever it is, it's going to be okay"

She buried her face in his chest.

"Come on, let's put you to bed" Draco scootched to the top of the bed and pulled Hermione along. When he laid down she followed, hiding her shaking body under the warm covers of his bed, and resting her head close to his chest.

As Draco put his arms around her she realized that this was the first time, in a very long time, that she felt safe. Here, she realized, she could stay forever

The next morning when Draco woke up Hermione was still asleep, so he tried not to wake her as he got up to make some tea. As the water boiled on the stove Draco found a note from Blaise saying that he was at work, and stated that Draco was making dinner tonight.

 _How kind of him._

As he poured the hot water into a kettle Hermione emerged from the bedroom.

"Good morning," He said with a smile.

She pulled some of her hair out of her eyes.

"Good morning," She said with a weak smile.

"How did you sleep?"

"Quite well surprisingly," she said mildly.

He brought out a few scones from the cupboard and places two mugs on the counter.

"Tea?"

"Yes please"

Draco gestured at the couch, and they sat down next to each other. Hermione quietly took a sip of the tea and scanned the apartment. Last time she was here she had been in such a hurry to leave that she hadn't noticed the big window or the beautiful green couch. The apartment was pretty and nice, and she liked it. The books lying around everywhere didn't really make her like it less, I mean they were pretty good books.

"Is it your books lying around everywhere?"'

Draco looked around to see what she was talking about.

"Oh yeah, those, they're mine. What about them?"

"They look good. I need some recommendations, you have any?"

"Well have you read ' _Pride and Prejudice_ '?"

"Yes, I have" She smiled.

"How about ' _David Copperfield_ '?

"Already read that..."

"' _Adventures of Huckleberry Finn_ '? ' _Enchanted Encounters'_? ' _The Island of Doctor Moreau_ '?"

"Yes, yes and no. Is it any good?"

"Not the best one I've ever read but, yeah, pretty good"

Hermione smiled and looked down at her tea.

The conversation was pretty easy to carry on from there, and they both knew that they would have been friends in Hogwarts if they would have had the chance.

Hermione once again looked at her mug and smiled.

"You want some more tea?"

She nodded and Draco filled up the mug. She took a sip, looked at the mug and laughed.

"Look at us, we're basically a couple already"

Draco paused for a moment then opened his mouth to talk.

"Why don't we make it official then?" He smiled nervously.

"What are you saying?" She leaned forward, but almost spilled tea all over herself. She fetched a towel and tried to dry up the stain on the couch. Draco watched her with a smile.

"Do you want to be my girlfriend, Hermione?"

She looked up from drying the couch.

"Only if you want to be my boyfriend..?" She smiled. Draco's face was painted with the most beautiful smile, and Hermione's eyes had those golden sparks in them, those that Draco really adored.

"It's settled then" He smiled as Hermione took another sip of her tea, unable of stopping to smile.

There she sat, Draco thought, on his couch, in his pajamas, drinking his tea, and he didn't mind it. The opposite actually, he didn't want her anywhere but there; smiling at him. He couldn't remember the last time he had been this happy.

Hermione pulled her hair back and looked at him.

"So, _boyfriend_ " She smiled, "what are you doing this week?"

"Well, I was thinking about maybe going to work tomorrow"

"Oh, Merlin! Work!" She quickly stood up, ready to run.

"It's Sunday"

"Oh right..." She quietly sunk back to her seat.

Just as Draco opened his mouth to talk someone knocked on the door, interrupting the conversation.

"I'll get it," he said apologizingly and walked to the hall.

As he opened the door, both of his parents stormed into the room, knocking over a vase on the way in.

"Why?" His father asked.

"What?" Draco didn't have the time nor energy to deal with his parents at the moment.

"Why did you break up with Adeline? You were perfect for each other" his father stated, and his mother, to his big dismay, nodded along.  
He crossed his arms.

 _Well, this is just perfect.  
_ _I don't have time for this right now. How in the world am I going to explain this to my parents, with her in the next room, without them causing a scene and cursing us all?_

"Why did you break up with her?" His father's voice was awfully loud.

"Who is it, Draco?" Hermione showed up at his side, leaning a bit on him. All parts (except Draco) were equally shocked by this meeting. His father looked Hermione up and down, and his face, Draco noticed, was dangerously red.

"Her?" Was all he could get out.

"Excuse me for a moment" Hermione quietly snuck away to the bedroom, starting to look for her clothes, but quickly abandoned that idea, as Draco probably put them somewhere she didn't know.

She instead pulled out a white t-shirt from Draco's closet and put it on instead of the pajamas.

"What are you doing?" Draco closed the door behind him.

"I'm getting dressed so I can get out of here" She went through his pants drawers, in the hopes of maybe finding something that wasn't too much too big.

"Okay"

Hermione started looking for her wand instead, cursing herself for probably leaving it in the living room.

"Here," Draco held out a brown paper bag towards her, "I know it's silly, but I bought this for you..."

She grabbed the bag, finding a black skirt inside.

"Thank you, that is so sweet" She put the skirt on and examined herself in the mirror. The skirt was of Manchester fabric, mid-thigh long, was high waisted, and had a few copper buttons at the top.

"How did you know my size?"

"Magic," he smiled. Hermione tucked the white shirt into the skirt and turned to her boyfriend.

"You look beautiful," he said.

"Thank you" She stood up on her toes and kissed him. Together they walked by the living room to get the wand. In the hall, Draco kissed her goodbye and shut the door behind her. He turned to his parents, both sitting on the couch in the living room, where he and Hermione had been sitting only minutes ago. This fight was going to be rough.

 **Thank you for reading. I hope you liked it. I would love to hear your thoughts in the reviews. X -H**


	15. Chapter 15

**Hi guys, long time no see. Important authors note in the end. But first: the story, and before that, thanks to everyone who has followed, favorited, reviewed or just read the story. It means a lot to me. And of course, nothing of Harry Potter is mine, it's all on JK Rowling, I've only made the plot. Happy reading.**

Draco, Blaise, Theodore Nott, and Gregory Goyle were all sat around a table in a dark restaurant somewhere in Diagon Ally. They were all laughing, and talking about memories from their time at Hogwarts.

"But do you remember when you and Greg and Crabbe were..." They all paused and looked at Gregory.

"Nah, It's cool guys, it's been over a year" He mumbled. Blaise patted his shoulder and continued the story about the time they had stolen a few broomsticks, but crashed into the lake, sometime in first year. They all laughed, and Draco cleared his throat.

"So anyway, guys, I got news," He said.

"You're getting engaged!" Blaise laughed and raised his glass.

"No..." Draco said slowly, "But I've got a girlfriend now"

The whole table quieted down and looked at each other.

"Wait... So you're telling us that... Draco Malfoy... has found a... girlfriend...? Like someone you actually date in a serious relationship...?" Greg said and leaned over the table.

"Well, yeah," Draco shrugged, "is that really so hard to imagine?"

The whole table nodded and mumbled different variations of yes.

Draco took a sip of his glass and looked at them all.

"So...? Who is she?"

Draco took a breath and thought about what to say.

"She's the kind of girl who likes to introduce herself. And anyway, you'll meet her soon enough".

* * *

"Draco!"

He was awoken by something landing on the bed, and, of course, the yelling before it.

"Hermione, it's six thirty" He mumbled, and covered his head with a pillow.

"Six thirty is not that early" She pointed out. Draco shoved her off the bed.

She stood up and brushed some dust off her jeans shorts

"Yes, it is" He mumbled and turned to face the other wall.

"Okay... Tarantallegra" She whispered. Draco's legs began to move uncontrollably, and he practically danced around the room, but Hermione quickly performed the counterspell when she saw the murderous look in Draco's eyes.

"You little pixie" He mumbled as he walked closer to her, while she was trying her best to not break down to a laughing heap on the ground.

Thirty minutes later she had managed to get him up and eat some breakfast and really tried to get him excited about something to do that day. It was, by the way, a beautiful day, sunny, and no cloud in sight, so of course, she wanted to go outside, which wasn't what Draco wanted.

"Come on, we can take the ferry to an island and be muggles for a day!"

"Or not," He said with a shrug, "we can just stay home and read, or you know, sleep. It's seven on a weekend. I don't think I've ever been up this early"

"Oh stop being so dramatic," She sighed, "Oh I know! We can go to Big Ben!"

"Why?"

"You're so negative!" She huffed, "Well now it's decided, we're going to Big Ben, and then we can take a bus and go around London. Yeah! It'll be fun!"

About an hour later, they finally left her apartment. Draco was moodier than ever, but Hermione was smiling, snapping pictures and talking. They walked for a while, Hermione telling stories from her childhood, remembering places as they passed. Draco was caught up in being grumpy, which Hermione wasn't shy to point out.

"Let's get on a bus. We can take it into the city" Hermione said, nose buried in a map, trying to figure out how to get there, "let's take a left here and take bus 407. I think..."

"How do you not know?" Draco asked, "you've lived here for the past year, you have to take this route all the time..?"

"Well actually, I don't, I usually apparate, but sometimes I take the subway, but rarely into the city. All of my friends live around it, and not actually in it"

Draco sighed but took her hand.

"Right here I arrived the first time I was ever in Merton", Hermione told, pointing into an ally.

"When was that?"

"Maybe... end of May last year?" She looked up, over to the bus stop at the end of the street, "Shoot, there's our bus! Run!" She took off, running as fast as she could. Draco at first didn't want to, but then ran he too. It had to be at least a hundred meters to the stop, and the bus was already closing its doors.

"Oh Merlin" Draco mumbled, before he ran, as fast as he possibly could, "Stop the bus!" he shouted. He raced by Hermione, and an upset retired couple, before he reached the bus. The driver smiled at him.

"You and your little girl have to hurry up. We're behind schedule"

"Okay", Draco turned back to the street, "Hermione run!" There were at least 30 meters to go.

"I am already late, can you two take the next bus instead?"

"I guess" Draco took a step out of the bus.

"What are you doing?" Hermione shouted, "that's our bus!" She flew past him, grabbing him by his collar and pulling him through the already closing doors.

"OW," Draco loudly exclaimed, as his arm was caught in the doors.

"What's wrong?" Hermione turned to her boyfriend.

"Well my arm's stuck in the door"

"Oh, I'll pay for us and tell him to open up" She turned around in the crowded bus, and buffed her way past a quite sad lady with a bright blue hat, "Hi sir, um, my boyfriend got his arm stuck in the door, is there any possibility for you to open up the doors so that he can get free?"

"We're already behind schedule," the driver said.

"Please"

"Have you paid for your ride?"

"Oh no I haven't, sir, I'm sorry. Here's 6 £, will that be enough?"

"Luckily for you, it is" the driver muttered and slid the money into a box.

She opened her mouth but decided it was impolite to bother him further.

"Can he open the door?" Draco asked when she got back to him.

"I think he can, but he won't"

"Did you mention that I'm in quite a lot of pain?"

They stared at each other for a while, Draco a bit more desperate that Hermione, who still was quite happy since the morning.

"I'll be right back" she whispered.

"You again?" The lady with the blue hat yelled as Hermione snuck past her.

"Sorry!" She whistled, "Hello again sir, my boyfriend is in quite a lot of pain, isn't there any chance that you could let him free?"

"Is it an emergency?"

"Yes, I would define it an emergency," She said, "would you define this as an emergency?"

"Depends, Is someone bleeding?"

"No"

"Crying?"

"Not yet"

"Dying?"

"No"

"In a lot of pain?"

"As previously stated, yes"

"But why didn't you tell me so?!"

"But I di-"

"Hello all passengers, we're going to be making a little stop to free a man stuck in the door" The driver quickly announced through the little speakers. The bus then, as told, stopped, causing everyone to slightly bump into each other. Hermione in the meantime made her way back past the sad woman in the blue hat.

"You alright?" Draco nodded, but was rubbing his arm, which was quite red in a very straight line, "We should go say thank you to the driver" Hermione said, already climbing past the (now very annoyed) lady in a blue hat. When Draco also made his way past she started complaining to the old man standing next to her.

"Youth these days..."

"Hi again, sir" Hermione flashed a smile and pulled Draco to her. She pushed him lightly with her elbow.

"Hi, I'm the boyfriend", Draco said lamely.

"We just wanted to thank you for opening the doors"

"Yeah yeah, we get it, you have a boyfriend,"

"Right. Well thanks again", Hermione mumbled and turned back to Draco.

The bus ride continued, stopping eleven times before they stepped off.

* * *

"Okay, now we should take another bus, because this clearly isn't Big Ben" Hermione joked, gesturing around her to the busy Wimbledon station.

"Why are there so many people out this early in the morning?"

"Well, first off, it's eight o'clock, not that early", Hermione smiled, "but I think a few of them is going to work, and some are coming home from or going to church"

After studying the big map on the wall they decided to take bus number 57 to Tooting Broadway Station. Draco laughed at the name, of course. The bus ride went slowly. The bus was once again crowded, and they both had to stand crammed together between a woman with a lizard and a man quoting The Three Musketeers.

"Remind me to never use public transportation again", Draco mumbled in Hermione's ear.

She laughed and whispered:

"I thought you loved lizards. And you better get ready, we're going to be on the next bus for 30 minutes"

Draco groaned leaned his head back.

"Here's our stop!" Hermione shouted a few minutes later. She pulled them both off the bus and started jogging across the platform to get to the bus on the other side. Number 155 this time. After paying they both got a seat, next to the window.

"Isn't London beautiful?" Hermione whispered.

"Yeah, it kind of is..." Draco replied. He was stunned. To be honest he had never seen London for real before. He had been there, and walked around, but never from this angle. Never like he actually lived in it. That's the downside of apparating all the time.

"I used to sit like this on a bus every time I was going to my grandmother", Hermione told, "me and my mom used to play this little game". She showed with her hands how one would clap each other, and how it went around in a circle. "There's even a little song to it" She looked thoughtful for a moment, "There was..." She sang a little song, clapping at the same time. When she was done she broke into a big grin. Draco thought to himself how amazing she was. The rest of the ride was spent trying to teach Draco the game, which turned out to be really hard, but really fun since they missed their stop because they were so distracted.

"Last stop," The driver said through the speakers, "Lambeth Road. All passengers must step off the bus"

Hermione and Draco baffled took their stuff and stepped off. They quietly stood for a while, looking around. Then they started to laugh. At first, it was soft, a chuckle almost, but it turned into a stomach-aching-bending-over kind of laugh. After having to sit down on the sidewalk to calm themselves, they started deliberating how to fastest get to Big Ben.

"Maybe we can take a right here?"

"No, I think we just go left?" Hermione looked up in confusion at her boyfriend.

"Mione, it's eight fifty, and I'm exhausted, can't we just apparate?"

"No!" she exclaimed, "we've gotten this far, we can't give up now!" She smiled inspiring at him, "please?"

He sighed but took a hold of her hand, and started walking.

"You know, I told Harry and Ginny about us," Hermione said, "they want to meet you"

"Do they want to meet me, or are you making them meet me?"

"Harry really wanted to see you," she told, "he has changed a lot since the war you know. Ginny wanted to meet you too"

Draco stuttered a bit, before closing his mouth.

"Are you free tonight, at seven?" She asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Yeah," Draco said, wanting to get out of making dinner for Blaise, "what did you have in mind?"

"A lot of things, actually, but Harry and Ginny wanted us over for dinner"

They once again walked in silence. Hermione seemed preoccupied with the map, and Draco was fine with watching the streets around him.

"Maybe we shou-" she trailed off, intensely studying the map.

"Hey, Mione" Draco nudged her with his elbow, "look up"

They had reached the Westminster Bridge, with Big Ben which towered up in front of them.

"We made it!" Hermione shouted, jumping up and down. Draco laughed and gave her a kiss.

"Look!" Hermione shouted, "it's so big!"

"And named Ben" Draco murmured, and Hermione grinned. She snapped a picture of Draco in front of the enormous clock. She also asked a stranger to take a picture of them both on the bridge, with the water in the background. Draco leaned down and kissed her again. They got the camera back and studied the photo. It was quite horrible. A little bit blurry, with an ugly boat in the background, and a few people's hairs showing up in the foreground.

"I like it," Hermione said, "I'm going to put it up on my desk at work".

"Now that we're on the subject," Draco started, "maybe we shouldn't flaunt our relationship at work, because, um, we might get fired if Hugo finds out"

"We might get fired?!" she loudly exclaimed.

Draco hushed at her.

"Well, yes," he said as he was pulling her closer to the reeling, "Hugo's really strict about relationships within the office. Someone was fired for it like three-four years ago"

"Merlin, we might get fired. Okay. I can't really deal with that right now, can we talk about this later?"

Draco nodded as Hermione took a deep breath to calm herself.

She took his hand and pulled him along over the bridge, closer to the actual Big Ben.

"Did you know that Big Ben is actually called The Clock Tower?" Hermione told, not really leaving any space to answer before she continued, "It was completed in 1859, and that in 1997 it stopped several times at the end of April?"

Draco was just about to answer when the sky opened up and rain started to fall. It wetted their hair and clothes, and soon there were puddles creating. Draco pulled his girlfriend along, to try and find some shelter.  
After running around for a while they found a little café in which they could hide. They both ordered hot chocolate and sat down at a table in the window.

* * *

Hermione knocked on the door and took Draco's hand.

 _Shit, I'm going into Harry Potter's home. Father would seriously put me in Azkaban for this..._

The door opened and a girl with long, red hair looked out.

"Hi, come on in." She opened the door all the way and pushed a few shoes out of the way for them.

 _Too late to back out now_

Ginny showed them to the kitchen where Harry was chopping vegetables.

"Hello," Harry said, wiping his hands on a towel, before shaking Draco's hand.

"Hi," Draco said awkwardly.

"Please take a look around," Ginny said, walked to the stove and stirred the pot.  
The kitchen was wooden and had counters edging out to the table. It was black with several chairs around it. Behind it was many big windows, showing off the houses around them.

"Over there is the bedroom and bathroom," Harry said, pointing to the other side of the bathroom"

The whole apartment was well decorated and very clean.

* * *

"So, Draco, you and Hermione work together?"

"Ehm, yeah..." Draco said, "at the ministry"

They were all sat around the table, Draco and Hermione on one side and Harry and Ginny on the other.

"It's really great that you wanted to have us over," Hermione smiled, "By the way, I ran into Dean the other day, he and Seamus are getting married!"

"Really, that's so great," She turned to Harry, "You owe me two sickles"

Harry didn't look as thrilled anymore.

"Is everyone finished?" He asked instead.

"I'll help you clean off the table," Hermione offered, taking hers and Draco's plate, going to the kitchen. They all helped clean off the table, before bringing some drinks back to the table.

"I'll just go the bathroom for a second," Hermione smiled and excused herself.

Ginny watched her as she walked out of sight.

"Listen here, you arse," she interrupted Harry's and Draco's discussion on quidditch, "you have some nerve to come here and especially to be with Hermione after what you did to her!"

"Ginny, calm down" Harry put his hand on her arm.

"No". She turned back to Draco, "you know what, you hurt Hermione, you hurt her so badly, and you act like it doesn't matter. It pisses me off. Have you even apologized?"

"Um, apologized for what?" Draco asked stupidly.

"Apologized for what?!" Ginny took a deep breath, "I don't like you, and you should know that. Hermione is an angel, and I don't want to see you break her. If you ever hurt her again, I'm going to harm you real bad. So you should just piss off"

Draco looked between the couple sitting in front of him, not really sure of what to say or do. Lucky for him, Hermione got back just a few seconds later.

"What's going on?" She asked, noticing the awkward tension in the room.

 **Hi guys, gals, everything in between and around that. I'm sorry for not updating for quite some time. I've reached the conclusion that I'm not going to be able to update regularly. I'm going to update whenever I have the time and energy. Therefore, I can not say with certainty when that's going to be. But I hope you have a really good time until then.**

 **Hugs - H**


	16. Chapter 16

"Hey, guys, come inside." Draco held the door open for the three men to walk through. They curiously stepped inside, Blaise Zabini leading them, seeming most eager to find out what girl Draco had been seeing.

Hermione stood silently around the corner, considering if it really was the right time to meet Draco's friends. She took a deep breath, deciding that it was the right time, and stepped around the corner.

"Guys, This..." Draco put his arm around Hermione, "is my girlfriend, Hermione"

Hermione's gut swayed as she waited for the mocking comments to come, but no-one said anything.

Then, a hand was slowly stretched out.

"I don't think we've formally met. I'm Theodore Nott"

"Hermione Granger. It's a pleasure to meet you" She shook his hand and smiled. Theo smiled too. A little, soft one. Even those were rare. Theodore Nott didn't smile much.

"Why don't you guys go to the kitchen and catch up? I'll get you some food," Hermione smiled. _It had been the right time_

The door slammed shut.

Left in the apartment were Draco Malfoy, Hermione Granger, Theodore Nott, and Gregory Goyle, staring awkwardly at each other.

 _Maybe it wasn't the right time, after all,_ Hermione thought

* * *

Draco was on his way to Hermione's apartment. She had been sick all week and he had taken care of her, which was quite good for him, since he had avoided Blaise like the plague, and this had given him a good reason.

He stepped inside her apartment, looking around to see where she was.

"Mione?"

"In the living room!"

She was sitting on her couch with pillows and blankets all around her. And her hair. Well, it was twice the size and three times as messy as usual.

"You look like a Picasso painting," he smiled.

"Clearly, you've never seen how Picasso painted people," she laughed.

"Well, I haven't. I just know you like his work," Draco sat down on the couch, "And I know that you're pretty"

She laughed again. That was Draco's favorite sound. Her laughter.  
She turned on the TV, showing an episode of Friends. Draco pulled a blanket to him and they watched in silence, until Hermione laid down, pulling all the blankets over to her side. He pulled them back, but she resisted.  
"I'm cold," she huffed.  
"If you steal all the blankets, I am going to put my cold feet on you.  
Hermione squealed when his cold feet met her legs, and he managed to pull some covers over to his side again.

After the fifth time Hermione had explained how a TV worked, and Draco still didn't get it, he decided to try and make some dinner for them.

* * *

An hour later they were once again seated on the couch, but with soup, this time Hermione was talking passionately about a book she just finished. "Third Wave Agenda: Being Feminist, Doing Feminism," she told him it was called.

"It's actually really interesting," she ate a spoonful of soup and looked up at him, "it describes quite vividly what women and feminism itself might face in the future".

Draco just nodded as she went on a rant about the whole book.

 _She seems to remember every detail about it._

 _Wait, for how long has feminism been around?_

 _WAIT. AM I PAID MORE THAN MIONE FOR THE SAME JOB?_

 _Nooooooo_

 _Or am I?_

"Draco? Are you okay? You look confused"

"Uhm... No I'm just... I'm fine. Totally agree with you"

 _Maybe I should listen to what she says. Okay focus._

 _Mouth is moving and... COME ON DRACO PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER._

"And that's why I think the third wave is a really important part of feminism, you know?"

Draco nodded and smiled.

"You wanna watch a movie? I just rented this movie called 'Shakespeare In Love'"

* * *

Two hours later Hermione had fallen asleep on the couch. Draco had tried to wake her, but she had just mumbled something about totally being awake and then she had missed the ending anyways.

 _She looks so peaceful when she's asleep_

Draco moved the blankets from her body and lifted her, carrying her to the bed.

After he had tucked her in, he bent down to kiss her forehead.

"No kissing - I'm sick," Hermione mumbled and turned in the bed.

"Goodnight, love"

* * *

Next day at work was as boring as every other. He chatted with Josh and Samuel about quidditch and with Cara about a new café in Diagon alley.

After finishing with a case he decided to take a stroll around the ministry. He was still confused as what Ginny had threatened him about. He hadn't hurt Hermione once whilst dating. Maybe she had him confused with Blaise? After walking around for a few minutes he ran into the threatener herself, Ginny Weasley.

"Hi, Ginny," he said nicely. If she wasn't going to be nice then at least he could try, for Mione's sake.

"Draco" she nodded.

"I have a question for you"

"Shoot"

"Seriously, when did I hurt Hermione?"

She sighed, and looked like she wanted to say something, then she started digging around in her bag. She eventually gave him a little glass bottle with what looked like a memory, inside.

"You should have a look for yourself," she said, "have a good day, Draco"

Draco decided to save the memory for later, since he 1. Was at work, 2. Didn't have a pensive and 3. Didn't think it mattered. Like Hermione wasn't mad at him for anything so it couldn't have been something too bad. Instead, he decided to go back to his office to clean up a bit. Hermione would have been proud of him.

After an hour of organizing the cases in alphabetical order, he had only reached G. Draco's blood boiled and he had kicked his trashcan several times. But that only got him more pissed, because then he had to clean that up as well. Hermione would probably be happy to help him once she was back at work, but he wanted to surprise her, so he carried on one more hour before deciding to go home.

He went straight home and changed since he had plans with Theo and Blaise that day. He wasn't too excited considering that he hadn't spoken more than a few words to Blaise since he had run out on them, but still. He liked Theo, and when it came down to it, he liked Blaise too. They had known each other since they were babies, and Blaise had been there for him when his dad had been violent for a while. Half an hour later Theo came over, and they didn't even have time to be awkward with Blaise since Theo had a wild story about how Greg had gotten stuck in some kind of basement with his ex. It was quite hilarious.

* * *

 **A/N: Hey guys. Long time no see, I hope you're all well and that your summer has been great. Here's one more chapter. A quite short one, but I'm hoping to get one more out after this one before school starts again next week. We'll see.**

 **Hugs -H**

* _Third Wave Agenda: Being Feminist, Doing Feminism_ is a book by Leslie Heywood and Jennifer Drake from 1997. Shakespeare in Love is a movie from 1998 by John Madden.


	17. Chapter 17

It was Friday, Draco's last day at work before the weekend, and he was just walking back from lunch. He was currently looking for some papers that some guy had to sign. It was a lot of signed papers at the investigation-department, at least in the desk part of it. Draco wasn't one of those who tracked down the dark wizards - well, sometimes he did - but mostly he just did a lot of paperwork and filing. Though he was considering getting out in the field. But now he was trying to track down Percy Weasley. He was now Head of the Department of Magical Transportation, and some guy they had caught had to be transported to Denmark.

Draco knocked on the door that lead to his office. Weasley's secretary let him in.

"Mr. Weasley is currently in a meeting, but you are free to wait until he returns," he smiled at Draco.

"Thanks..." Draco mumbled and settled down in a chair.

45 minutes later he had managed to get the paper signed and was once again on his way. Whilst walking out of the Department of Magical Transportation he noticed something shiny in a room on his left. And the curious child in him decided to examine it further.

Upon coming closer he realized that it was a pensive. _That's weird. Why would someone need a pensive here?_

He was just about to walk away when he thought of the memory Ginny had given him. Draco quietly walked closer and examined the pensive. It looked like it could work. He took out the small bottle from his pocket and poured the memory into the pensive. He took a deep breath and leaned his head into the fluid.

* * *

Draco found himself standing in the dorms of Hogwarts. More specifically, the Gryffindor girls dormitory. The walls had red pillows and there were scarfs here and there. Draco also realized that a girl was sitting on one of the beds. A little girl with brown bushy hair, brown eyes, and a uniform, perfectly put on. She was sitting cross-legged on her bed with some ink and parchment in front of her. She looked a bit sad.

"You know what, Hermione," she said factually, "Malfoy is just jealous because you get better grades and that's why he's being mean".

That was partly true, he was a bit jealous of her. But mostly she was just everything he had ever been taught to hate. And she didn't match with what his dad had told him about muggle-borns, so someone had to put her down, young him had thought.

"So really, you should feel sorry for him. It isn't good to live a life in hatred," she stated for herself.

How could she be such a nice person when he was such an arse to her? Well, she wasn't always nice, she had been a bit of an arse herself... Sometimes at least.

Hermione took a deep breath and wiped a tear off her cheek. She then dipped her quill in ink and began to write.

 _"Dear mom and dad"_

Draco looked around in the room. Why could he hear what she was writing? This is absurd.

 _"Hogwarts is so amazing. Everything is, as expected, magical. The staircases even move!_ _I miss you both so much, but I'm also very happy here. Everyone is so nice and I've made many, many friends."_

Draco looked at the little girl. This looked like the first year. She didn't have many, many friends in the first year.

 _"Not just in Gryffindor, but all of the houses. I get so much help from other students. I think they help me a bit extra because I'm muggle-born. I don't think I need it, but it is very considerate of them."_

Had he completely missed something in the first year or were no-one helping her? She helped everyone and everyone made fun of her.

 _"There's this one boy in Slytherin, Draco,"_

Oh, Merlin, that's me.

 _"he is very nice and always helpful, just like everybody else. It's just proof that everything in the books about how Slytherin's are mean is wrong!"_

WHAT?

Draco studied the little girl on the bed. She was obviously sad, and it seemed like it was something he had done - something young he had done - that hurt her.

 _"So you don't have to worry about Slytherins bullying me"_

Of course, she writes this to her parents! And there she is, lying to them, she should have told them she was bullied at least1

 _"Anyways, better get to class._

 _I look forward to hearing from you._

 _Love, Hermione"_

"Hermione I am so so sorry." He took a few steps towards the girl, wanting to comfort her, as she was tying the letter to an owl.

"HERMIONE! LET'S GO," a voice from outside the room sounded.

"Coming!" She grabbed her book bag and ran out the door with Draco trailing close behind.

Down in the common room, Ron and Harry were waiting.

"What took you so long? We're gonna be late for potions, Mione"

"Sorry," she mumbled and dried off one last tear from her eyes before anyone could notice it.

Why isn't anyone noticing that she's sad? Why doesn't anyone comfort her? COME ON PEOPLE YOU TELL YOURSELF YOU'RE HER FRIEND! YOU SHOULD NOTICE WHEN SHE'S CRYING!

They discussed their essays the whole way down to the dungeons. That only proofed Draco's theory. She did help everyone, because this time, she proofread Ron's paper, pointing out some mistakes, and probably raising his grade with that. But no-one offered to read her paper, or even asked her what she wrote in it unless it was to have something to add to their own.

They had just gotten down into the dungeons when a voice called behind them.

"Well, well, if it isn't Potter, Weasley, and Granger," the voice called. Draco's blood ran cold. He knew that voice. It was his own. Well, his voice before puberty at least...

He turned around to watch his young self approach the trio with his life-guards trailing closely behind.

"I really don't understand why they let your sort in, do you, Granger? You hadn't even heard of Hogwarts before you got the letter!" He looked her up and down, "you should just-"

 _Oh, Merlin. Had he been that harsh?_

"Watch it, Malfoy," Harry spat.

"Yeah, leave her alone." Ron pointed his wand at him.

"It's a shame you're protecting someone of her kind," Draco cast a dirty look at the girl and took a threatening step closer to the red-head, "blood-traitor"

 _Let it stop, please let it be over now._

"Back off, Malfoy," Ron raised his wand.

"Mr. Weasley, put that wand down," Professor Snape's voice sounded, "Ten points from Gryffindor."

 _This isn't good, why couldn't it have been McGonagall who walked by?_

"But, Professor, Malfoy was being rude to Hermione," Harry objected. Snape looked between the two groups. Grown Draco wanted to throw up when he saw the smug smile on his young selfs face.

He threw himself onto the young Draco, only to fall straight through him. He dusted off his pants and stood. _My kids are never, ever going to be that way._

"And 5 more points for disrespecting me," Snape said with his sleazy voice.

Harry looked like he wanted to say something, but Hermione pulled at his sleeve.

"Leave it," she whispered. She looked like she wanted to cry.

 _I am so sorry, Hermione. Make it stop. PLEASE MAKE IT STOP._ He wanted to hug her. She looked so small and alone standing there, barely holding it together.

Suddenly the memory started to fade, and he stood from the pensive.

* * *

He took a deep breath and walked around the room. He had to think. Had he been that bad to her? Sure, she had said pretty nasty stuff to him too, but he was horrid. Was Hermione still hurting from the stuff he had said? It was pretty hurtful stuff. That didn't seem like the worst thing he had done. He hadn't called her a mud-blood. At least that's something. He had started using that word in the second year when she said that his dad bought Draco's way onto the team. That had been pretty hurtful too, honestly.

* * *

Hermione nearly dropped her cup when Draco stormed in through her apartment door.

"Hermione!" He yelled.

"Draco? What are you doing here?" She looked at him. He looked a bit disheveled and almost upset. "Shouldn't you be at work?"

"I left early." He came closer to Hermione and grasped her arms. "I am so sorry"

Hermione looked at him for a few seconds.

"I'm sorry?"

"I was an absolute arse to you in school."

Hermione tucked some hair behind her ear.

"I mean, yeah you were, but why are you bringing this up now? It was years ago!"

"Ginny gave me a memory and I watched it in a pensive and..." Draco held up the small bottle, "I am so sorry"

"Draco, it's fine," She smiled at him, "Really. It was long ago, it's long forgotten."

"It was like two years ago!"

"It was further back than that I think,"

"No, it wasn't, it continued all the way until you left to hunt Horcruxes. So it still happened in 6th year!"

"A lot has happened since then. It's not something I worry about anymore," she put her arms around his neck, "besides, now I've got loads of compliments from you to weigh it up with" She kissed him. Draco pulled away.

"You wrote letters to your parents telling them I was nice! But I was an arse!"

"Draco, look at me," She put her hands on his cheeks, "it is fine. I am okay,"

Draco opened his mouth to talk.

"Yes, I am sure," she smiled at him, "now let it go."

* * *

 **Well, look at that! I managed to get another chapter out! Yay me! Anyways, I hope you liked it.**

 **I want to say thank you to everyone who follows, has favorited or reviewed this story, I am forever grateful! Thank you. (On that note please review, it's very helpful!)**

 **Until next time. I wish you the best - H**


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